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THE 



AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM 



AS 



EMBODIED IN THE LEGISLATION OF 
VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



WITH AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 



/ 



By JOHN H. WIGMORE, 



OF THE BOSTON BAR. 





BOSTON: 
CHARLES C. SOULE. 

1889. 









Copyright, 1889, 
Br John H. Wigmore. 



University Press: 
John "Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



PREFACE. 



Workers in the field of foreign statutory law must in 
this country frequently be at a loss for complete materi- 
als of recent date ; and in preparing the following pages 
the editor has not been able to consult the statutes of 
New Zealand since 1883, or of Tasmania and Western 
Australia since 1884, or to obtain complete information as 
to legislation in Victoria or New South Wales since 1885, 
or in several European countries since 1886. These de- 
ficiencies are to some extent unavoidable in an American 
work. No complete set of Australian reports and statutes 
exists in this country. Pasinomie is not to be procured in 
Boston, probably not in the United States. The Annuaire 
de legislation etrangere, published by the Societe de legis- 
lation comparee, does not appear until twelve months or 
more after the year with which it deals (the volume for 
1886 has only recently reached this country) ; and the 
Bulletin published by the same society, though its reports 
are as recent as can reasonably be expected, has by no 
means the exhaustive character of the Annuaire. To pre- 
pare a complete notice of foriegn legislation to date is 
perhaps not possible, in the nature of the case, in any 
country. 

It is believed, however, that the only changes, if any, 
that are likely to have occurred are the possible adoption 
of the Australian system in other European States, and 
a revision of the Tasmanian statutes, which have served 
since 1858. 



iv PREFACE. 

The side notes to the statutes are collateral references 
to the other statutes given in full, and are intended to 
include the principal provisions as to which there is a 
variation in the practice of different states. The num- 
bered notes at the end of the Massachusetts statute are 
comments on the comparative advantages of the different 
variations. Where two or more statutes of a single coun- 
try are given, they are referred to in the notes as A, B, 
etc., according to their order in the text. 

The Queensland and South Australian statutes were 
selected from the seven Australasian laws for these rea- 
sons: The seven statutes, as will be seen, fall into two 
general classes, those of S. Australia and W. Australia being 
substantially the same, and those of Victoria, Queensland 
and the remaining states being not materially unlike. 
The S. Australian statute, as being the most important 
of its class, and that of Queensland, as having received 
later revision than the others of its class, are given in full, 
and the variations of the remaining Australian statutes in 
all important details are noted in Part VIII. 

Those who are concerned in advancing legislation on 
the subject are requested to send to the editor, as soon as 
may be, 1. a copy of the draft of any bill, as soon as intro- 
duced ; 2. a copy of any law, as soon as enacted and ap- 
proved ; together with any additional information relative 
to the history of the movement on behalf of ballot reform. 
It will thus be made possible, in a subsequent edition of 
the book, not only to record whatever new legislation 
takes place upon the subject, but also to make known to 
other States whatever desirable improvements of detail 
may elsewhere have been devised, even though they have 
failed to be enacted. 

J. H. W. 

Boston, Jan. 21, 1S89. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Preface iii 

Introductory Sketch of the History of the Aus- 
tralian Ballot System 1 

STATUTES : 

Part I. Massachusetts 37 

Notes on Parallel Provisions (of 
the various Acts) relating to 

the same Subject 52 

Part II. South Australia 68 

Part III. Queensland 75 

Part IV. Great Britain and Ireland ... 85 

Part V. Belgium 105 

Part VI. Kentucky 116 

Part VII. New York 122 

Part VIII. Summary of Statutes in other 
Countries : — 

A. Tasmania 133 

B. New Zealand 134 

C. Victoria 135 

D. New South Wales 135 

E. West Australia 136 

F. Dominion of Canada 137 

G. Quebec 140 



vi CONTENTS. 

Part VIII. Summary of Statutes {continued} . . page 

H. Ontario 143 

L Wisconsin 145 

J. Luxembourg 146 

K. Italy 147 

L. Norway 148 

M. Austria 149 

N. Other Countries 149 



Appendix 153 



INTRODUCTION. 



Where a community has reason to believe itself 
to be numbered among the enlightened ones of its 
age, and its institutions to be pre-eminent among 
those of civilized mankind as types of liberty and 
progress, it relaxes (it may be) the constant strain 
of high endeavor ; an easy complacency settles upon 
it ; and it awakes one day to realize that a commu- 
nity having no pretensions to as conspicuous a rank 
among nations has grasped the torch of progress, 
and now leads the way with intelligent and ad- 
vanced methods, pointing the path for its more 
eminent fellows to pursue. 

With some such reflection as this must England 
and our own commonwealths look upon the history 
of ballot reform in the past fifty years. Before rep- 
resentative government in Australasia had an exist- 
ence, corruption, fraud, and intimidation (to name 
none of the less palpable evils that beset an election) 
thrived abundantly in Great Britain and Ireland, and 
even in our own country had begun to take root. 
But it was reserved for stripling states, when to 
them in their turn the exigency came, not merely to 
apply, but to invent an effective remedy, and to indi- 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

cate a cure for at any rate the grosser evils that pre- 
vent an election from being what at the least it should 
be, the free and accurate expression of the opinions 
of the electors. It is proposed in the following in- 
troductory pages to sketch the history of the measure 
known as the Australian ballot system, as it passed 
from state to state in Australasia, on to the mother 
country in Europe, thence westward to Canada and 
eastward to continental countries, and finally west- 
ward again to these United States ; and in conclu- 
sion to take up, briefly, the reasons underlying its 
effectiveness, and the application of its principles to 
political conditions in this country. 

I. 

That the system is by birth Australian has once, 
and once only, been questioned. In 1869, when the 
British Parliamentary Committee were considering the 
introduction of the secret ballot, and were examining* 
witnesses from all parts of the world, it was told 1 
that in the little town of Maryport, in Cumberland, 
a similar method of voting had for many years been 
in successful operation, and it was the grievance of 
the burgesses of the old town that Australia, far from 
deserving the credit of an invention, had been only a 
borrower, without acknowledgment, of the Maryport 
method, doubtless carried to the colonies by some 
native of the town. 2 Whether the method used in 

1 Testimony of Francis Taylor, Report of Com. on Pari, and Mun. 
Elections. Pari. Papers, 1868-9, vol. viii. p. 525. 

2 That a town of Maryport appears on the map of Queensland per- 
haps adds to the plausibility of this claim. 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

Maryport was in fact a similar one, and whether it 
antedated the colonial system, may be dismissed from 
our consideration ; for there can be little doubt that 
the latter was purely indigenous, that its details were 
prepared and marked out independently, and that no 
other system was searched for, referred to, or known 
by the framers of the law. This we have upon the 
authority of the father of the measure, Francis S. 
Dutton, member of the Legislature of South Australia 
from 1851 to 1865, and daring that time twice at the 
head of the government. The secret ballot was first 
proposed by him in the session of Legislative Council 
of 1851, before representative government and uni- 
versal suffrage had been granted to South Australia. 1 
At that time the usual attendant vices of open elec- 
tions already flourished in the young colony. Kiot- 
ing and violence, bribery, intimidation, and coercion, 
were only too common, — even more so, some said, 
than in England. But for several years no action 
was effected in the direction of reform. In 1856 
came the Constitution, granting popular representa- 
tion and manhood suffrage. From 1857 to 1859 
Dutton was a member of the government, and im- 
mediately used the opportunity to advance his favor- 
ite measure. No commission of inquiry was appointed, 
but with the aid of Chief-Justice (then Attorney-Gen- 
eneral) Hanson, the details of a plan were elaborated 
and a bill introduced which, after receiving modifica- 
tions and additions in the House, became a law under 
the name of the Elections Act, 1857-8 (No. 12), and 

1 Pari. Papers, supra, p. 353. 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

typifies the system which has since spread to two 
other continents. " I can safely say," said Dutton, 
many years later, standing before the Marquis of 
Hartington's committee, " that no act of my political 
life has given me so much satisfaction as what I did 
fifteen or sixteen years ago with reference to the 
ballot system. If that is possible, I am more strongly 
in favor of it now, after fifteen years' experience, 
than when I introduced it before I had any experi- 
ence about it." It so happened that Colonel (since 
Sir) Robert Richard Torrens (then recently the 
author of a system of registration of land titles which 
has earned him an international reputation and has 
stimulated Canada and Great Britain to efforts in 
the same direction) was at that time also a mem- 
ber of the Government, and, imbued with the argu- 
ments of Lord Palmerston and John Stuart Mill, had 
strenuously opposed the introduction of the secret 
ballot. That its results completely converted him 
we learn from his own confession. He came to 
believe that the system he had opposed was " the 
best and most rapid and facile mode of carrying on 
elections." The new machinery worked with " the 
greatest smoothness, ease, and economy." We have 
his testimony that the aspect of elections was com- 
pletely changed. Rioting and disorder disappeared 
entirely. The day of polling saw such quietness 
that a stranger would not realize that an election 
was going on. Intimidation by landlords and dic- 
tation by trades unions alike ceased. Canvassing, 
at least upon an organized plan, was practically 



INTRODUCTION. 



given up. Perhaps Mr. Dutton's most significant 
statement (and yet the one most difficult for us to 
picture) is that the very notion of exercising coer- 
cion or improper influence " absolutely died out of 
the country." The united sentiment of the colony 
accorded with these views, and has ever since sus- 
tained without dissent the policy of the act. By the 
Ballot Act of 1862 (25 Vict., No. 13) its principles 
were applied to all elections to public bodies other 
than the Legislative Council and the Assembly, and 
thus became applicable from time to time in mu- 
nicipal elections ; and by the District Councils Act 
of 1876 (39 Vict., No. 43) and the more recent one 
of 1887 (50 Vict. No. 41), the system was applied to 
rural government also. The statute governing legis- 
lative elections has from time to time been revised 
(Elections Act, 1S61, No. 20; Elections Act, 1870, 
No. 18; Elections Act, 1879, No. 141), usually with 
reference to the suffrage qualification and the regis- 
tration of electors ; and the ballot system of thirty 
years ago now extends to all elections alike — mu- 
nicipal, rural, and legislative — in the colony. 

In Victoria an almost simultaneous movement took 
place in favor of the secret ballot. The project was 
introduced by Mr. William Nicholson, and the minis- 
terial opposition to it speedily resulted in a change of 
government. Nicholson, at first unsuccessful in form- 
ing a ministry, afterwards became Chief Secretary, 
and at the head of the government carried through 
the measure in 1856, two years after the Constitution 
had created a representative legislature. The oppo- 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

sition to the secret ballot came mainly from the Con- 
servatives (as was the case later in England), and 
from a few prominent Liberals; but after its working 
in practice was seen, the Conservatives were thor- 
oughly converted, and the country as a unit declared 
in its favor. Bribery and corruption seem never to 
have existed in Victoria to such an extent as in neigh- 
boring South Australia. But other evils politic were 
not wanting. The new system secured quietness 
and convenience, and abolished the tumult and wild 
disorder which formerly prevailed. The various 
phases of intimidation disappeared ; * and a personal 
canvass, that formerly indispensable feature of a 
British election, became almost an unknown occur- 
rence. 2 Electioneering is largely confined to holding 
public meetings, at which the merits of candidates 
and of measures are discussed. About 1861 the op- 
eration of the secret-ballot system was extended to 
other than parliamentary elections by the Local 
Government Act (No. 176). In 1869, upon the re- 
organization of county and municipal government, it 
was re-enacted by the Shires Act (No. 358) and the 
Boroughs Statute (No. 359); and was perpetuated, 
when these provisions were again fused into one stat- 
ute, in the Local Government Act, 1874 (No. 506). 
As applied to parliamentary elections, it is now con- 

1 For instance, "The ballot has saved many a man from having 
his mortgage foreclosed upon him, as was the case under the old sys- 
tem." — Melbourne Gazette, 1856, quoted in "Facts about the Ballot," 
published by the Ballot Society, London, 1857. 

2 This is corroborated by the statement of Mr. Nicholson in " Facts 
about the Ballot," supra. See this pamphlet for a full account of the 
adoption and success of the system in Victoria. 



INTRODUCTION. 



tained in the Electoral Act of 1865 (No. 279). Dur- 
ing nearly thirty years of the operation of the system, 
only sixteen decisions of the Supreme Court were 
asked for the construction of the acts containing it. 1 

The new system spread rapidly in the land of its 
birth. It was adopted in Tasmania Feb. 25, 1858, by 
the Parliamentary Elections Act (21 Vict., No. 32), 
which has ever since served without revision ; and in 
18G5 the Rural Municipalities Act (29 Vict., No. 8) 
extended the method to elections other than parlia- 
mentary. In the same year, 1858, New South Wales 
entered the ranks, and applied the new system to its 
parliamentary elections (22 Vict., No. 20). Subse- 
quent statutes embodying the subject are the Muni- 
cipalities Act, 1867 (31 Vict., No. 12), and the 
Elections Act, 1880 (44 Vict., No. 13). New Zealand 
apparently did not adopt the new method in its es- 
sence until 1870 ; for although a " Regulation of 
Elections x\ct " was passed, bearing date August 19, 
1858, by which only the officers of election and per- 
sons actually voting were admitted to the polling- 
places, yet the voter was still required, as in England, 
to declare verbally to the polling-clerk the name of 
the desired candidate, and no attempt was made to 
require secrecy of those present at the time. We 
must therefore say that not until the Regulation of 
Elections Act, 1870 (33-34 Vict., No. 18), was bal- 
lot reform adopted in New Zealand. Under the 

1 No decisions since 1883 are accessible to the editor. The above 
statement is of course made of those provisions only which form a part 
of the electoral machinery peculiar to the ballot system, and not of 
those parts of the acts relating to registration, etc. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Revising Act of 1881 (45 Vict., No. 12), and the 
Municipal Corporations Act of 1S76, 1 it is believed 
that the secret ballot system is in vogue at all elec- 
tions in New Zealand. In Queensland (which did not 
receive responsible government until 1859), and in 
West Australia (which still continues a crown col- 
ony), the exact date of the introduction of the sys- 
tem cannot be stated. In the Queensland Parliamen- 
tary Elections Act, 1874, appear in substance the 
same regulations afterwards re-enacted in the Parlia- 
mentary Elections Act of 1885 (given in Part III., 
infra). By the Local Government Act 1878 (42 
Vict., No. 8), these principles were applied to muni- 
cipal elections, and by the recent Divisional Boards 
Act of 1887 (51 Vict., No. 7) their operation has 
been extended to the choice of what correspond to 
county officers ; so that all elections are now con- 
ducted according to this system. In Western Aus- 
tralia, legislative elections are now held under the 
Ballot Act of 1877 (41 Vict., No. 15), based on the 
Elections Act of South Australia and embodying its 
essential principles. Whether in the Election Act 
of 1870 (33 Vict., No. 13) similar provisions already 
existed, the editor has not been able to ascertain. 2 

1 This the editor has not been able to consult. 

2 A few words of contemporary testimony as to the working of the 
system in Australia may be of interest. They are taken from an 
interview published in the li Boston Herald " of Dec. 29, 1888, with a 
prominent Australian then stopping in Boston. 

" It ha-s been said that the new system will lead to confusion and 
delay at the polls. Has this been the case in Australia? " was the first 
question. 

'• Xot at all. . . . Very little work is done near the polls in the in- 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

Meanwhile, the good results of the Australian sys- 
tem of voting had reached England, where thought- 
ful men were anxiously looking for some solution of 
the problem of pure and tranquil elections. The 
earliest method of choosing members of the lower 

terests of the several candidates ; it may be said none at all. The 
campaign is conducted much the same as in the States, by means of 
meetings, pamphlets, and flyers. Work at the polls is impossible, and 
it does not pay to work at the distance prescribed by law." 

. . . "Is the system of voting now in use generally accepted as 
satisfactory and regarded as permanent in Australia." 

"Yes ; I think so. I have never known any serious opposition, 
nor of any attempt to essentially modify it." 

. . . "In regard to the nominations, all who desire to be candi- 
dates offer themselves as such. This does not lead, as might be sup- 
posed, to a multiplicity of candidates and a disastrous splitting of the 
party vote. The Australian is a pretty sensible fellow, and does not 
encourage candidates who have no chance. Before the day of election, 
the contest is usually narrowed down to two candidates for each 
office." 

The speaker illustrated the true freedom of voting attained under 
the system by citing facts coming under his knowledge in England. 

" The reform was pushed most vigorously by the Radicals, who 
expected large gains in voting strength from the increased privacy 
afforded by the new method. . . . The new ballot law did prevent this 
undue influence by the employing classes, but it also made impossible 
bull-dozing and terrorism by caucuses and committees. The result of 
this twofold influence was different from that expected by the Radical 
leaders. Under the protection afforded by the absolute secrecy of the 
ballot, more voted against them than for them. The voters attend 
the Radical meetings and shout themselves hoarse; but when the day 
of election arrives they go to the polls and, unknown to the Radical 
committees, vote for the Conservative candidates. This explains why 
some districts in England, in which it is impossible to hold a Conser- 
vative meeting without a row, return that party's nominees by large 
majorities. Rather than be ostracized and maltreated by their com- 
rades, many of the workingmen join hands with the Radicals before 
the election, but vote as they choose at the polling-booths, and they 
very often choose to stand with the more conservative elements of 
society." 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

House. — used at a time when, as is probable, all the 
freemen of the shire had a voice in the selection, — 
'was by the view or show of hands, usually in an 
open, unenclosed space, or by some similar rough 
process. 1 Not until after a statute of 8 Henry VI. 
(1429), restricting the county suffrage to 40-skilling 
freeholders, do we hear of a poll being taken. As 
late as the sixteenth century the show of hands was 
still regarded as sufficient in law, and, though grad- 
ually a change was insisted upon, not before the stat- 
ute of 7 & 8 Win. III. c. 125 (1696) was the right 
to demand a poll finally established. In other re- 
spects, also, the antiquated methods were only slowly 
adapted to modern needs. An election frequently 
lasted eight or nine days. In one instance early in 
this century the polls were open in Mayo County for 
fifty-seven days ; though later laws limited the dura- 
tion of a poll to two days in the country and one day 
in the boroughs. The usual process was this : The 
voter entered the polling-booth, gave his name to the 
poll-clerk, and, if successful in replying as to his qual- 
ifications, was required to declare aloud for whom he 
voted, and the clerk ckecked a vote for that candi- 
date opposite his name in the poll-book. The poll 
was technically only an adjournment of the elections, 
which began with what was in fact the nomination of 
candidates in open meeting. If a poll was demanded, 
which happened as a matter of course when more 
than one candidate appeared, the election was de- 
clared adjourned, and the poll took place at the ad- 

1 Cox, Antient Parliamentary Elections, p. 105. 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

journment. 1 By the first half of this century (and 
matters became worse as each decade passed) serious 
abuses had fastened themselves upon this system. 
The development of industrial and social conditions, 
the increase of popular influence, the gradual shifting 
of political contests from the battlefield and the 
court to Parliament and the polls, — these causes, 
with others, resulted in placing an inordinate strain 
upon the outgrown methods. Ever since its first 
days, indeed, in the time of Henry VI., the 
open poll had shown its failings. One is half 
amused to read the ingenuous complaint pre- 
sented in 1451 by certain freemen of Huntingdon- 
shire, protesting against the election of two knights 
returned for the shire, and telling a tale of armed 
opponents, who threatened violence at the polls, 
"and soe wee departed for dread of the inconven- 
iences that was likely to be done for manslaughter." 
Other documents of the times suggest to us that 
even the credit of having originated " counting 
out " methods and falsification of returns, with 
other characteristic practices, may upon investiga- 
tion be taken from the American ward politician ; 
for in a preamble to the statute of 23 Henry VI. 
c. 14 it is regretfully recited that " divers sheriffs 
of the counties of the realm of England, for their 
singular avail and lucre, have not made due elec- 

1 Before the reform of 1872 the practice had been adopted in cer- 
tain boroughs of voting by delivering to the poll-clerk voting-papers 
signed by the elector and containing the name of the preferred can- 
didate. The varying procedure was reducible substantially to these 
two types. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

tions ; " * and this passage is not without its com- 
panion instances. From this time on, but more 
abundantly as our own century was reached, vio- 
lence, corruption, fraud, and intimidation in all 
its phases and varieties were frequent, — in one 
place or at one time more or less noticeable than 
at another place or time, but always increasing, 
and, especially in the larger cities and their en- 
virons, 2 resulting finally in a condition of affairs 
which was described by high authority as " fright- 
ful." One of the commonest facts of British elec- 
tions, before 1872, was the controlling influence 
exercised by large customers over tradesmen of 
all sorts. Landlords intimidated their tenants, and 
marched detachments to the polls to vote in 
their interests. In one place employers coerced 
their workmen ; and in another the trades unions 
coerced their members. Worse than all, and hardly 
to be believed, in larger cities hired mobs often 
patrolled the streets, keeping away hostile voters 
and intimidating those who ventured to the polls. 
A Conservative mob or a Radical or Liberal mob, 
or both, were in some places a common feature of 
an election. On one occasion which may serve as 
an example, some 500 out of 2,000 Conservative 
voters were prevented by demonstrations of violence 
from giving their votes. Just as present political 
methods in our laro-e cities should not be taken as 

o 

1 This -word here signifies the ministerial act of certifying to the 
result of the election. 

2 See the testimony before the Bribery at Elections Committee, 
Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. viii. 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

types of political conduct in every part of the re- 
public, so these instances are not to be regarded 
as representing the condition of things throughout 
Great Britain. But that they could exist at all un- 
der the British electoral system was reason enough 
for a reform. From time to time the secret ballot 
had been demanded by men of influence as a possible 
remedy. James Mill and the Benthamites, Peel, 
O'Connell, Bright, Lord Russell, Grote, Macaulay, 
— all these names are associated with the efforts 
of the first half of the century. 1 But secret voting 
has in England always had to encounter a special 
argument of predominant influence. It is difficult to 
sum it up in a few words, but its burden is that the 
open vote tends to create and maintain the self- 
respect of the voter, and that the secret vote is the 
parent of hypocrisy. The strength of this sentiment 

1 The following passage-at-arms will serve to show the vigor with 
which the movement was carried on in controversial literature : — 

" Objection 26: That Publicity is the main essence of the represen- 
tative system. Ans. Is the elector's being kicked the main essence 
of the representative system? Is the elector's being bribed the main 
essence of the representative system? If they are, the publicity which 
secures them may be so too. Some people think that if the voter has 
a right to vote, he has a right to vote without being kicked. Some 
people think that if he is to choose a legislator for the public, it is 
good he should do it with as little chance of bribery as may be. Some 
even go to the length of thinking these are of the main essence. Will 
anybody tell us how the voter is to do better for being either kicked or 
bribed? But it is good that the voter should go through great tribu- 
lation. In the Life of Alexander by Quintus Curtius is the story of a 
man who, after giving his evidence to the best of his ability, was put 
to the torture, to see if he ' would say the same under torment.' In 
like manner, with the voter it is held necessary to see whether he will 
vote the same under torment." (From Fallacies against the Ballot, icith 
the Answers: published by the Ballot Society, 1855.) 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

anions many of the more thoughtful men in England 
is something which perhaps has not been appreciated 
in this country. 1 We may conceive that to enact 
compulsory secrecy in voting will to some conserva- 
tive Americans perhaps appear a step too far ; but 
the denial of even an optional secrecy such as we 
now enjoy is a policy which to many of us would 
be almost incomprehensible. 

In the elections of 1868, however, matters reached 
a climax, and the month of March. 1869, saw a com- 
mittee appointed, with the Marquis of Harrington 
in the chair, to inquire into the existing methods of 
conducting elections, in order to provide further 
guarantees for the " tranquillity, purity, and free- 
dom" of parliamentary and municipal elections. 2 
The committee held sessions during three months, 
unearthed various accounts of corruption and intimi- 
dation at the previous elections, and examined wit- 
nesses from Australia, the United States, France, 
Italy, and Greece, steadily endeavoring to secure 
some comprehensive solution of the problem. They 
reported, in July, 1869. only the evidence taken be- 
fore them, but upon reappointment, in the session 



1 See an article by James Mill, in 13 Westminster Rev. 1. See 
also Edinb. Bev. 1853. pp. 572, 610. This feeling still lingers here 
and there in England with all the vitality of a traditional sentiment, 
and it was probably to its influence that the seven years' limitation of 
the original Ballot Act was due. See 115 Westm. Rev. 443 (1881). 
Indeed no stronger evidence is needed of the merits of the act than 
the fact that the secret ballot is not in accord with the traditions of 
British politics, and is retained in the British electoral system purely 
for the immense benefits which it is seen to secure. 

2 Faii. Eapers, 1868-1869, vol. viii.: 1870, vol. vi. 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

of 1870, they reported a recommendation that the 
secret ballot be adopted. The fruit of the move- 
ment was the Ballot Act of 1872, brought in on Feb. 
20, 1870, by William E. Forster, Secretary Bruce, 
and Lord Hartington, and recommitted and amended 
from session to session for more than two years, until 
on May 30, 1872, it passed the Commons, and sub- 
sequently took its place among the statutes as 35 & 
36 Vict., c. 33, — based substantially on the South 
Australian method, but modified, enlarged, and care- 
fully applied to the circumstances of its new home. 
Fortunately we are not without testimony as to its 
operation. Four years later, on the motion of Sir 
Charles Dilke, a committee was appointed, with that 
noted Liberal as chairman, "to inquire into the work- 
ing of the machinery of the Ballot Act." * They 
gave the subject a thorough investigation, and sum- 
moned, among other witnesses, the town clerks of 
Leeds, Manchester, and Liverpool, leading returning 
officers, and election agents of both parties. The 
general and emphatic verdict was that a thorough 
change for the better had taken place. "All those 
disorders," said Sir Joseph Heron, town clerk of 
Manchester, " that used to occur under open voting 
have ceased altogether. . . . Any one walking 
through the borough would not know the fact that 
an election was going on ; everything is so perfectly 
peaceful;" and yet " it was notorious that, taking the 
city as a whole, there was more interest felt in the 
elections than had been known for very many years 

1 Pari. Papers, 1876, vol. xii. 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

past." To the change in regard to the purity of the 
election he bears the strongest possible testimony : 
" I believe that such a thing as bribery does not ex- 
ist at Manchester;" though it was in these large 
cities that the disorders of the previous decades had 
reached their extreme. " The ballot is a blessing to 
us," said the town clerk of Leeds, Mr. Curwood ; 
and this testimony was corroborated on all sides. 1 
The course of legislation since 1872 indicates very 

1 Some fears had been expressed that the new method of marking 
the vote would have difficulties for the less intelligent voters, but the 
result showed this to be groundless. In a test vote taken by anticipa- 
tion in Manchester in 1870, the total number of votes cast was 11,475, 
and of these only 80 were void for insufficient marking. At the 
Leeds election of 1874, out of 31,793 votes, only 86 were void for un- 
certainty or failure to mark ; in the Kent election only 32 votes out of 
23,000 were lost for uncertainty; and at Liverpool, in 1874, where 
37,000 voted, the uncertain ballots were only 193 in number. These 
figures show a proportion of lost votes probably much lower (as poll- 
ing-inspectors would testify) than the unknown number of miscar- 
riages which occur in our present system in the awkward use of 
gummed pasters, or in attempting to erase individual names. All the 
English figures above quoted were those of the first election under the 
new system at the places named, and of localities where the illiterate 
vote reached its extreme, and in this light are even remarkable. There 
was also some testimony that at the election of 1876, with an increase 
of nearly 10 per cent in the number of voters, the number of votes 
rejected for the above reasons became smaller, showing that improper 
marking is not a constant attendant of the system, but as familiarity 
increases, tends to disappear. Australian experience also testified that 
very few votes were lost by mistake or informalities. In regard to the 
multiplicity of names upon a single ballot, it should be added that 
the conditions of English elections permit comparison with our own, for 
at School Board elections there are sometimes as many as 25 candi- 
dates. As respects polling arrangements under the new system, it 
was found that at the time of greatest pressure (and that under the 
cumbrous English provisions for taking the votes of illiterates) votes 
could be received at the rate of from 150 to 200 per hour, and this 
even where only four private compartments were provided at each 
polling-place. 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

clearly the degree to which the Ballot Act com- 
mended itself to the British people. In 1873 the 
Elementary Education Act (36 & 37 Vict., c. 86) 
provided for its application to the election of school 
boards; 1 and in 1884 the Education Department, by 
a General Order, combined its operation with the 
new method of cumulative voting. In 1875 the 
rules relating to municipal elections were revised by 
the Municipal Elections Act (38 and 39 Vict. c. 40) 
and in 1882 were placed, without material change, 
in the Municipal Corporations Act (45 & 46 Vict., 
c. 50). The Ballot Act was limited to expire Dec. 
31, 1880, but it has been regularly continued in 
force from year to year, 2 and may now be regarded 
as a permanent element of the English electoral sys- 
tem. In August last it was applied to county elec- 
tions by the Local Government Act, 1888 (51-52 
Vict., c. 41), so that the entire field of elections in 
England and Wales, if not in Scotland and Ireland 
as well, is now covered by the Australian system of 
balloting. 

Its success in this quarter had far-reaching results. 
The adoption of the system by Great Britain gave 
it a standing which it could not otherwise have had, 
and communities afflicted with like evils came to 



1 Tn 1870, the Education Act having given the Education Depart- 
ment power to hold elections in its own way, the ballot had been 
used at the School Board elections in London (Pari. Papers, 1884-85, 
vol. xi., Report of Com. on School Board Elections, (Voting)). 

a 43^4 Vict , c. 48; 44-45 Vict., c. 70; 45-46 Vict., c. 64; 46-47 
Vict., c. 40; 47-48 Vict., c. 53; 48-49 Vict., c. 59; 50 Vict., c. 5; 
50-51 Vict., c. 63. 

o 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

study the remedy which had there found favor. 
Naturally, the new method next appeared in Cana- 
da. It was adopted by the Legislative Assembly of 
the Province of Ontario, March 24, 1874 (Ballot Act, 
37 Vict., c. 5) ; by the Dominion Parliament, May 
26, 1874 (Dominion Elections Act, 37 Vict., c. 9), 
and by the Legislature of the Province of Quebec, 
February 23, 1875. Subsequent Dominion legisla- 
tion has applied it to local option upon the temper- 
ance question (Canada Temperance Act, 1878, 41 
Vict., c. 16). In Ontario it was immediately ex- 
tended to municipal elections (38 Vict., c. 18, Dec. 
21, 1874). In Quebec, where municipal elections 
have been governed by the Municipal Code of 1870, 
enacted while the old system was in force, the appli- 
cation of the Australian system to the city of Quebec 
by the charter recently granted (July 12, 1888, 51-52 
Vict., c. 78), shows the growing demand, here as else- 
where, for the extension of the system to all manner 
of elections. 1 

1 The following extracts from a letter by a Nova Scotian election 
officer, appearing in "The Nation " of Jan. 10, 1889, will be of 
interest : — 

" In Canada the Australian ballot system has been in force for the 
past fourteen years. We have grown familiar with it, and what 
astonishes me is how any one can call it complex, or having once seen 
it could possibly endure to work with any other. . . . There are no 
provisions preventing persons congregating about the polling-booth. 
In practice it is found that the small polling district and the secret 
voting do away with all temptation to rioting. In former times here, 
with open voting and a few large sections, we had furious fights about 
the booths. ... As to simplicity of working, there was a little diffi- 
culty at first, though nothing like what was predicted. But now very 
few mistakes are made or votes thrown away. ... As to preventing 
bribery, it is not such a success as we should like. It has done a good 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

In Belgium also a remedy was needed for degen- 
erate elections. The title of the Act of July 9, 1877, 
" Sur le secret du vote et sur les fraudes electorates" sug- 
gests the state of things which brought the subject to 
the attention of the legislature. Party spirit has 
always been high in Belgium. The great parties, 
Liberal and Catholic, were very evenly divided in 
this kingdom of six million souls, and the contest for 
the small number of votes which carried the balance 
of power gave birth to all forms of corruption, — to 
fraudulent registration, illegal voting, intimidation, 
improper influence, false counting, marked, altered, 
and suppressed ballots. 1 The modifications of the 
electoral law since the time of the constitution (1831) 
had been only recently codified in the Electoral Code 
of 1872 ; but England's example inspired a fresh 
movement of reform, and the Premier, Malon, after 
a careful study of the Ballot Act of 1872, and suit- 
able modification of its provisions, brought in, and 
succeeded in passing, the Act of July 9, 1877, — 
adopting substantially the English system in a much 
less cumbrous piece of legislation, but containing 
some unique improvements. This law applied only 
to national elections, but was in the succeeding year 
applied also to provincial and municipal elections ; 2 
and with the exception of one or two minor amend- 

dea] ; nevertheless, the most of our bribable electors, especially in the 
country, make it a curious point of honor to vote the way they have 
been paid to. The Corrupt Practices Act ... is far and away more 
effectual than the ballot." 
"Halifax, N. S., Dec. 28." 

1 Annuaire de legislation etrangere (Paris), vol. xvii., 1877, p. 512. 

2 Annuaire, etc., vol. xviii., 1878, p. 466. 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

merits (noticed in Part V., infra), has remained 
unaltered. In 1882 the various statutes were con- 
solidated into a supplement to the Electoral Code 
of 1872. 1 In 1879 Belgium's diminutive neighbor, 
the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (which, though 
nominally dependent on the Kingdom of the Nether- 
lands, is practically autonomous, making and admin- 
istering its own laws), in the law of May 28, bore 
witness to the efficient working of the Belgian meas- 
ure by adopting it almost in its entirety • 2 and five 
years later, when the laws relating to elections were 
revised and codified, proved its own satisfaction with 
the system by applying it to municipal elections. 3 

Whether compulsory secrecy attended the ballot 
system introduced into Piedmont by Charles Albert 
in 1848, and into the kingdom of Italy in 1860 by 
Victor Emmanuel, the editor is not aware. 4 Cavour, 
who took an important part in the framing of the 
law, was always a champion and defender of at least 
permissive secrecy of voting ; for it was, in his con- 
viction, the only safeguard against clerical intimida- 
tion. But when the extension of the suffrage and 
electoral problems generally were discussed in 1881— 
82, and the question of the method of voting was 
reached, it would seem that the example of England 
and Belgium in pronouncing in favor of compulsory 

1 Supplement an code alphabetique des lois politiques, etc., par H. 
Wyvekens (Brussels, 1S82). 

2 Annuaire, etc., vol. ix., 1879, p. 592. 

3 Act of Mar. 5, 1884; Annuaire, etc., vol. xiv., 1884, p. 527. 

4 See Pari. Papers, 1S68-69, vol. viii., Test, of John W. Probyn, 
p. 583. 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

secrecy was in the minds of the framers of the law 
of 1882, and that its careful and detailed provisions 
for compulsory secrecy were influenced by the pre- 
vious European legislation based on the Austra- 
lian system. The electoral reforms of 1882 were 
comprised in the Acts of Jan. 22 and May 7, after- 
wards published as one by royal decree of Sept. 14. 1 
They contain the essence of the Australian system. 
It will be noticed, however, that nominations are not 
required to be previously communicated to the au- 
thorities, since the official ballot is blank, and is writ- 
ten upon by the voter himself, 2 the candidates being 
made known beforehand at public meetings held in 
their interest, or by other methods of publication. 

It remains to notice, in transatlantic governments, 
the adoption by Norway, in 1884, 3 of compulsory 
secrecy in voting. The time-honored custom in Nor- 
way, under the Electoral Act of 1828, had been to 
vote, at the pleasure of the elector, viva voce or by 
a signed ballot. In 1884 a system was adopted 4 
nearly resembling the Italian method, but requiring 
the use of an official envelope; although, inasmuch 
as the voter procures his ballot for himself before 
entering the polling-place, the method is hardly 
to be considered as completely in accord with the 
Australian system. 

The electoral statutes of certain other European 

1 Armuaire, etc., vol. xii., 1882, p. 503. 

2 A reading and writing qualification is imposed by the same Act 
of 1882. 

8 Act of July 1 ; Annuaire, etc., vol. xiv., 1884, p. 624. 
4 See part viii., L. 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

countries sometimes contain resemblances to the 
essential features of the Australian system. In Aus- 
tria, for example, a blank official ballot-paper is 
used, and the vote is privately written ; in France, 
Hungary, and Greece, pre-appointed nominations 
are required ; but since in none of these states has 
the Australian system been adopted in its entirety, 
nor does the presence of this or that feature seem 
to have any historical connection with the Australian 
method, it would not be proper in this place to refer 
at length to those laws. 1 

In the Prussian Landtag the demand has been 
made, from time to time, for a secret ballot. In- 
timidation is common enough to need preventive 
measures of some sort ; and, though the Government 
has as late as March, 1888, again failed to grant the 
reform, 2 it is probable that the movement must suc- 
ceed before long. 

The history of ballot reform in our own country 
is as yet brief, but is full of earnest and successful 
action on the part of its friends. 

Of the movement in Louisville, Ky., which resulted 
in the Act of Feb. 24, 1888 (contained in Part VI., 
infra), the editor has no. detailed information. 3 By 
this Act the Australian system, properly adapted, is 
applied to all elections of municipal officers in Louis- 
ville. In its working it has certainly accomplished 

1 See further, part viii., infra, N, and Charbonnier, Organisation 
electorate de tous les pays civilises, Paris, 1883. 

2 Bulletin de la soc. de legisl. comp., June, 1SS8, p. 611. 

8 See " The Nation," Dec. 13, 1888, containing a letter from a citi- 
zen of Louisville. 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

r 

the results which were expected from it. 1 " The 
election last Tuesday," writes the correspondent in 
" The Nation," " was the first municipal election I 

1 The following letter testifying as to the operation of the law 
appeared in the Boston "Advertiser" and the Boston "Globe" of 
Jan. 11, 1889 : — 

The law was apparently difficult and intricate. It had been pre- 
dicted that the election would end in confusion and disorder. The 
chief local newspaper had given the project but cold support. Yet the 
event confounded all; it was administered with practically uniform 
ease and success by election officers who certainly did not rise above 
the average in intelligence. ... I have heard of no case in which a 
ballot was thrown out in the count because of the failure of the voter 
to understand what was required of him. 

In addition to demonstrating its perfect practicability, the election 
tested the power of the law to prevent bribery. It can hardly be pos- 
sible that there is a city in the Union where open corruption has been 
more generally practised than in Louisville. 

We do not admit the fact of its corruption without great regret; 
nor would we desire to be lulled into any false security respecting the 
efficacy of the means just tried to stamp it out. But it is an undenia- 
ble fact that in the late election there was, except in one place, no 
corruption successful, and but little attempted, and that with this evi- 
dence of its successful working the chances have greatly lessened that 
bribery will be tried. 

Other objections that had been urged failed wholly to be justified. 
In no case, as far as I can learn, was there any delay in recording votes. 
A compartment is provided for every one hundred and seventy-five 
voters, whereas the Massachusetts law provides one for every seventy- 
five, and yet the accommodations were in every case ample. So far 
from interfering with the process of voting, I should not be surprised 
if actually less time were required than by the old viva voce system. 

Again, the counting of votes proceeded apparently with perfect 
ease. The results of the election were published in the papers the 
following morning with the accustomed fulness; nor did the official 
count, so far as I know, require more time than was the case under 
the old method. 

In some of its details the law may be improved, but in all essen- 
tial particulars it is beneficent and effective, and we have seen enough 
to fix it firmly in the confidence of the people. 

Abram Flexuer. 
Louisville, Ky., Jan. 3. 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

have ever known which was not bought outright. 
As a matter of fact no attempts at bribery were 
made." 

In New York the movement had its rise simul- 
taneously in several different sources. Mr. William 
M. Ivins, of New York, in " Electoral Reform, and 
the History of the Yates-Saxton Bill," says : — 

" During the winter of 1887 the Commonwealth Club of New 
York, which consists of men of all shades of political faith, de- 
voted a half-dozen meetings to the public consideration of the 
failure of the law to protect the suffrage, and at the end of the 
season appointed a committee of well-known and able lawyers 
and public men of large legislative and administrative experience 
to draft a bill for presentation to the legislature. Every one of 
these men was especially qualified for the work to do which he was 
appointed, and the committee as constituted consisted equally of 
Democrats and Bepublicans. This committee was subsequently 
joined by a like committee of the City Eeform Club, appointed 
for the same purpose, and after many months of careful study 
prepared a measure which, after being approved by the Com- 
monwealth Club, the Eeform Club, the City Eeform Club, 
and the Labor Party, was presented in the Assembly about the 
middle of the session of 1888, and known as the Yates Bill. 
Mr. Saxton and Mr. Hamilton had already presented bills look- 
ing to the same end. These bills were all referred to the Assem- 
bly Committee on Judiciary, and what was subsequently known 
as the Yates-Saxton, or Saxton, Bill was reported to the House. 
The bill, as reported, was substantially the Yates Bill with a few 
amendments adopted from the Hamilton and original Saxton bills, 
and this measure finally passed both Houses of the legislature." 

It was vetoed, however, by Governor Hill. But 
although the veto checked for the moment legisla- 
tion upon the subject, the movement has continued 
to increase in numbers and in strength. A Ballot 
Eeform League has been formed, and a congress of 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

the advocates of the reform in all the States is to 
be summoned during the year, for the purpose of 
achieving organization and concerted action, and for 
promoting uniformity and efficiency in the coming 
legislation. Meanwhile a new bill has been drafted 
and introduced 1 at the present legislative session, and 
upon this the friends of the reform expect to unite 
and to reach success. 

The legislation of 1888 in Massachusetts was based 
on a popular movement even stronger and more 
widespread than that which made itself felt in New 
York. Bills were drawn by Messrs. Bailey, Dana, 
Hayes, and Whitmore, and were introduced early in 
the session of 1888. Petitions were received from 
the Common Council of Boston, from citizens of Bos- 
ton, Cambridge, Chelsea, Fall River, Lynn, Newton, 
Somerville, Taunton, Worcester, and many of the 
rural districts, asking for similar legislation. The 
subject was laid before the joint committee on elec- 
tion laws, of which Henry H. Sprague, Esq., was 
chairman on the part of the Senate, and Alpheus 
Sanford, Esq., chairman on the part of the House ; 
and it received exhaustive consideration. The Com- 
mittee had before them the four bills above men- 
tioned, the Saxton bill of New York, the Michigan 
bill (introduced in the legislative session of 1888 in 
Michigan, but lost through a failure of the two 
branches to agree), and the British, Canadian, and 
Australian statutes; and from this abundant material 
it was endeavored to shape a law which should be 

1 See Appendix I. 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

efficient and permanent, adapted to the electoral 
system of the State, and containing in its details the 
best features of previous legislation. The result of 
their work was a bill which, after slight alterations, 
was enacted by a practically unanimous vote, includ- 
ing the members of both leading parties, and was 
approved by the Governor May 30, 1888. 1 

1 This was not the first time that the secret ballot had applied for 
admission to the Massachusetts statute book. The early ballot law of 
1647, under which the vote was cast "by wrighting the names of 
the persons Elected, in papers open or once foulded, not twisted nor 
rowled up, that they may be the sooner perused" (Colonial Laws, 
1672, " Elections," p. 47, reprint of 18S7), was passed at a time when 
the distinction between a compulsory and an optional secrecy had not 
become important. By the year 1850 there was need enough for a 
measure of reform, and the Know-Xothiug party took up the cause of 
the secret ballot, perhaps, to some extent, for the reason that secrecy 
in the political opinions of its members was almost necessary to the 
success of the movement. In 1850 a legislative committee, with 
Amasa Walker at its head, reported strongly in favor of a system of 
compulsory secrecy, which provided for furnishing official envelopes to 
all voters, and for counting no ballots not contained in the envelopes. 
This plan became a law in 1S51 (c. 226), a coalition of Democrats and 
Free-soilers passing it by a small majority. The law seems to have 
worked well during its brief existence; although it is evident that 
practically it contains nothing to prevent bystanders from ascertaining 
what ballot is put into the envelope. But, in 1853, the Whigs again 
controlled the legislature, and on February 24 mortally wounded the 
new law by making it optional to demand or not an official envelope, 
as the voter pleased. To request an envelope thus ticketed the voter 
as clearly as could be wished. In May, 1853, a convention sat in Bos- 
ton to propose amendments to the Constitution, and compulsory secrecy 
in voting was recommended as one of the amendments. The people, 
however, failed to accept it. In 1S55 the American party carried the 
State, and, again passing the envelope bill in the House, were defeated 
in the Senate by one vote. At the time Charles Sumner was first 
elected to the U. S. Senate, an incident occurred on the joint ballot 
which created much comment at the time, and was used as an argu- 
ment for the effectiveness of the secret ballot as a gauge of real con- 
viction and a guarantee of liberty of action. After twenty-five fruit- 
less ballotings, a motion was carried to place each ballot in a sealed 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

In Wisconsin, as a result of efforts towards reform, 
a law was passed in the session of 1887 regulating 
the conduct of elections in cities of more than 50,000 
inhabitants, and incorporating some of the features 
of the Australian system. Preparation has been 
made in other States during the present winter for 
securing similar legislation. In Maine, a bill has 
been introduced at the present session of the legis- 
lature, by Mr. Looney of Portland, substantially the 
same in its provisions as the Massachusetts statute. 
The measure will be supported by prominent mem- 
bers of both leading parties, and by representatives 
of the Knights of Labor, and seems, here as else- 
where, to rest upon a strong popular demand. 
In Rhode Island a Ballot Reform Club has been or- 
ganized, and a bill embodying the Australian system 
has been introduced at the present session of the 
legislature. In Michigan the efforts to secure legis- 
lation will doubtless be renewed. In addition to 
these States, the introduction of similar legislation is 
also in contemplation in California, Connecticut, New 

envelope. Sumner was then elected on the twenty-sixth ballot. The 
optional envelope law is still in force in Massachusetts, but it is of no 
practical value, and is seldom taken advantage of. 

The foregoing facts are drawn partly from two interesting pamph- 
lets, — one, a letter from Amasa Walker to the Ballot Society of Lon- 
don, published by them in 1855 as Tract No. 5 ; the other, a modest 
essay by Edward L. Pierce of Milton, published in the Boston Post, 
of Aug. 2, 1852, republished in the Dedham Gazette, July 30, 1853, 
entitled " Secret Suffrage," afterwards reprinted by the Ballot Society, 
with notes by James Mill, and containing by far the best account 
(within the knowledge of the editor) of the secret ballot in classic 
times and of the history of the ballot reform movement in England 
down to 1855. 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Dakota, Delaware, Kan- 
sas, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, New Hamp- 
shire, Pennsylvania, Montana, Nebraska, Colorado, 
Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, and 
Oregon, and not improbably in others also. It would 
seem that, before many years pass, the entire elec- 
toral machinery of the country will have been re- 
formed in accordance with the principles of the 
Australian method. That system has now received 
the approval of the legislatures of seventeen civilized 
states. Forty-five times these different legislatures 
have registered their approval of the system by vari- 
ous enactments (exclusive of amendments). The 
people who now conduct their elections by this ma- 
chinery number nearly eighty-five millions ; they 
are all citizens of free states, living under constitu- 
tional government, and enjoying representative in- 
stitutions. So far, then, as its previous adoption has 
a significance, the system is shown to be neither an 
untested experiment, nor a questionable expedient 
drawn from dissimilar political experience ; for it is 
not only well tried and long tried, but tested and 
adopted under political conditions and methods which 
we have in common with all representative govern- 
ments. It is not the method of any one country or 
people, but finds a home wherever a pure and sincere 
expression of conviction is the constitutional mode 
of selecting the makers and the administrators of the 
laws. 



INTRODUCTION. 29 



II. 



It remains briefly to suggest the reasons for the 
success of the Australian system, and a few of the 
special benefits which it promises to American poli- 
tics. Amid the minor variations of detail in the 
numerous statutes, the cardinal features of the sys- 
tem, as everywhere adopted, are two : first, an ar- 
rangement for polling by which compulsory secrecy 
of voting is secured ; second, an official ballot con- 
taining the names of all candidates, printed and dis- 
tributed under state or municipal authority. Either 
of these may, on principle, exist without the other, 
although the second is almost indispensable as a part 
of the machinery for the perfect working of the first. 
Each requirement, however, has an efficiency of its 
own, and each operates against a special class of 
evils. 

Let us glance at the first. The conditions of life 
among us now seem to be such that our statutory 
prohibitions, to be effective, must aim to operate 
chiefly by indirect methods. Statutes which seek 
to prevent by imposing a penalty are in numerous 
classes of cases practically of no effect, not only be- 
cause satisfactory evidence of the violation is hard to 
obtain, but because, through public indifference or 
private favor, prosecutions for the offence are rare, 
— perhaps also because the prosecution of single of- 
fences cannot, in the nature of the offence, prove 
any serious check upon its repetition ; perhaps also 
for other reasons. Whatever the causes, it has be- 



30 INTRODUCTION. 

come apparent that the best results are to be reached, 
when preventive legislation is planned, by taking one 
of three courses : 1. By making the detection of the 
offence absolutely certain ; 2. By taking away all 
interest in its commission, or by making it profitable 
to refrain; 3. By making the offence plrysically im- 
possible. These methods, of late, are frequent in 
legislation, as an illustration or two will show. The 
screen law in force in many states is based on the 
first principle, and aims to make the sale of liquor so 
open that any violation of law can instantly be 
detected. The statutes requiring the registration of 
pawnbrokers' transactions and the rendering of ac- 
counts by public corporations, have a similar purpose. 
Again, acting upon the third principle, we find, for 
example, that the most effective way to prevent child 
labor in factories is to require the presence of the 
child at a school. If we look for an illustration of 
the second plan, we are reminded of the fire-escape 
and building-inspection laws, and the extreme diffi- 
culty which is found in enforcing their observance ; 
yet when the insurance companies but suggest an 
increase of rates upon structures which violate the 
laws of safety, improvements are speedily made. 
In short, we have besrun to realize that the mere 
printing of a penal statute is not the only step in 
prevention, and that the modern method must be 
the indirect method. The secret of effectively 
reaching an evil by law is either to insure its 
detection, to render it impossible, or to make it 
unprofitable. 



INTRODUCTION. 31 

Tedious as it may seem to dwell upon so obvi- 
ous a matter, it has extreme importance for us, for 
this truth it is which underlies the effectiveness of 
the secret ballot and its usefulness for our political 
conditions. On the one hand it checks bribery and 
all those corrupt practices which consist in voting ac- 
cording to a bargain or understanding. No man has 
ever placed his money corruptly without satisfying 
himself that the vote was cast according to the agree- 
ment, or, in a phrase which became only too com- 
mon during the last campaign, without proof that 
" the goods were delivered ; " and when there is to 
be no proof but the word of the bribe-taker (who 
may have received thrice the sum to vote for the 
briber's opponent), it is idle to place any trust in 
such a use of money. In other words, take away all 
interest in committing an offence, and the offence 
will soon disappear. But this is trite and well-under- 
stood, and, in England and Australia, it is not merely 
a deduction made beforehand from our acquaintance 
with human nature, but an established fact of expe- 
rience. On the other hand, the marking of the vote 
in seclusion reaches effectively another great class of 
evils, including violence and intimidation, improper 
influence, dictation by employers or organizations, 
the fear of ridicule and dislike, or of social or com- 
mercial injury, — all coercive influence of every sort 
depending on a knowledge of the voter's political ac- 
tion. Tumult and disorder at the polls, bargaining 
and trading of votes, and all questionable practices 
depending upon the knowledge gained, as the day 



32 INTRODUCTION. 

goes on, of the drift of the contest, — it would hardly 
be necessary to argue in advance, even if England's 
experience did not prove it, that these practices, 
wherever they have prevailed, must disappear. In 
short, the secret ballot approaches these more or less 
elusive evils, not merely with the weak instrument 
of a penal clause for this and that offence, but with 
the effective methods of modern legislation. Bv 
compelling the dishonest man to mark his vote in 
secrecy, it renders it impossible for him to prove his 
dishonesty, and thus deprives him of the market for 
it. By compelling the honest man to vote in se- 
crecy it relieves him not merely from the grosser 
forms of intimidation, but from more subtle and per- 
haps more pernicious coercion of every sort. By 
thus tending to eradicate corruption and by giving 
effect to each man's innermost belief, it secures to 
the Republic what at such a juncture is the thing 
vitally necessary to its health, — a free and honest 
expression of the convictions of every citizen. 

I pass to the other essential feature of the Aus- 
tralian system, — a feature, if possible more impor- 
tant to the cause of good politics. This character- 
istic, it need hardly be said, is a development of the 
traditional method of nomination in England and 
Australia. But no long-meditated invention could 
have been more apt or more efficient to reach certain 
of the most pressing evils that attend our system of 
nominations. A rehearsal of them at this place is 
not needed, for they are familiar through experience 
to all citizens of our larger cities, and through hear- 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

say, at least, to others. 1 " To find the honest men," 
says Mr. Bryce, in his recent work on " The Ameri- 
can Commonwealth," 2 " and having found them, to 
put them in office, and keep them there, is the great 
problem of American politics ; " and one of the great 
reasons why they cannot be put there is, briefly, be- 
cause the road is completely blocked; the extra- 
legal machinery which necessarily surrounds every 
election is in the complete possession, in the large 
cities, of a corrupt party machine, in too many 
other places, of party managers having more or 
less ignoble interests to serve ; and the plain re- 
sult is that since we have no opportunity to vote 
for the desirable men, we cannot of course elect 
them. 

" Our elections," says Mr. Ivins, in his telling pamphlet on 
" Electoral Reform," " are not elections in any true sense of the 
word, and when we vote we simply register our choice as be- 
tween two or three men who have already been elected by a 
machinery unknown to the law, a machinery which is really the 
personal propert}' of the few, and in which the many have no 
right which they can enforce. The law being silent as to where 
the ballots are to come from, as to who shall supply and pay 
for them, and as to how they shall be distributed, a certain 
few in the communit}*- have created a Machine to do all these 
things, which the law necessitates, and does not provide for, and 

1 See " Machine Politics and Money in Elections in New York 
City," by Wm. B. Ivins; "Money in City Elections," by J. B. 
Bishop; A. C. Bernheim, in Pol. Sci. Quart, for March, 1888; F. W. 
Whitridge, article on "Assessments," in Amer. Cycl. Polit. Science; 
Dorman B. Eaton, article "Primary Elections," in the same work; 
Theodore Roosevelt, in "Century" for Nov., 1886; Henry George, 
in 136 N. Amer. Rev. (1883) 201; Bryce, "The American Common- 
wealth," ii. cc. 60-6S, 88, 89. 

2 Vol. ii. p. 3S5. 

3 



34 INTEODUCTION. 

have thereb} T actually* put an end to the very political equality 
which the ballot is supposed to preserve inviolable. . . . Be- 
sides vesting the power of nomination in fee-simple in those 
persons who practically own the machinery for printing and 
distributing the ballots, the existing system amounts to an 
almost complete exclusion from official public life of all men 
who are not enabled to pay, if not a sum equal to the entire 
salary of the office they seek, at least a very large percentage of 
it. The poor man, the rnoderatery well-to-do man, and the self- 
respecting and conscientious man are thus at once cut off from 
all political ambition, because the only key to success is wealth 
or machine power." 

It is clear that the evil maintains itself because of 
the insufficiency of the election laws. Just so long 
as the law sanctions a method under which the only 
avenue to an election is through a nomination by a 
caucus or a convention, so long must we fail to elect 
the best men, for our hands are tied. " If a method 
can be found by which all men can be given polit- 
ical equality before the law, actually as well as 
theoretically, the evil will die a natural death." To 
compress the issue roughly into a phrase, — what 
we need now is not merely free elections, but free 
nominations also, — not merely a sincere and accu- 
rate expression of opinion, but an opportunity to 
nominate and to vote effectively for any one whom 
we desire. 

This is why the method of nominations open to 
all and a place in the ballot free to all nominees is 
an integral and invaluable part of the Australian 
system of ballot reform. This is one reason why 
certain of the most glaring evils of popular govern- 
ment in this country have never fastened themselves 



INTRODUCTION. 35 

upon the countries in which the method of open 
nominations prevails. This is why the ballot-reform 
movement promises to have effects far wider than 
the mere achievement of a single reform. It is the 
opening of a road (perhaps the only road) to the 
whole field of political improvements. For, if we 
solve by this means the great problem of our poli- 
tics, if we are enabled to put honest and capable 
men in office and to keep them there, we shall have 
created legislative and administrative officers from 
whom we may expect the intelligent and fair con- 
sideration of those further improvements, — a sort 
of consideration which is now only exceptionally 
and (it may almost be said) accidentally accorded 
to them. 1 

1 Mr. Ivins' summing up of the case is clear and succinct: "Let 
us therefore try to summarize distinctly the causes of the evil, and 
note the remedies which they naturally suggest : — 

The Evil. The Remedy. 

1. The necessity for voluntarily 1. The printing and distribution 
printing and distributing the bal- of all ballots at public expense does 
lot justifies organization for this away with the necessity of organi- 
purpose. zation for this purpose. 

2. It practically vests the Ma- 2. And will deprive the political 
chine with the monopoly of the Machines of the monopoly of an 
election machinery ; essential part of the election ma- 
chinery. 

3. And, as a consequence, with 3. It will enable any body of citi- 
the monopoly of nomination. zens of the number prescribed by 

law to have the name of their can- 
didate printed on the same ballot 
with the names of all other candi- 
dates for the same office, so that 
before the law and before the voters 
all candidates and all party organi- 
zations will stand on a perfectly 
even footing. 



36 



INTRODUCTION. 



4. It involves the necessity of de- 
fraying the expenses of both print- 
ing and distribution by means of 
assessments on or contributions by 
candidates, office-holders, or party 
leaders, 

5. Which facilitates bribery and 
corruption by affording them con- 
venient covers ; 



6. And debauches the electors by 
leading them to become partisans 
for pay, instead of honestly and 
from conviction performing their 
duty as citizens. 



4. This will dispense altogether 
with the necessity of and excuse 
for levying political assessments, 



5. And leave no legal cover for 
bribery. The law can describe and 
limit all permissible expenditure, and 
compel the candidate or his agent to 
make a sworn return with vouchers 
to a proper public officer for all 
disbursements. It may punish all 
violations with sufficiently severe 
penalties, 

6. And prescribe that no elector 
under pay of a party or candidate 
shall be permitted to vote, thus mak- 
ing it more the interest of candidates 
and parties not to pay than to pay 
for election services, and thus deter- 
ring all honest electors from accept- 
ing pay." 

Win. M. Ivins, in " Electoral Reform." 



AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 



I. MASSACHUSETTS. 



ACTS OF 1888. 



CHAPTER 436. 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTING 
BALLOTS AT THE PUBLIC EXPENSE, AND TO REGULATE 
VOTING AT STATE AND CITY ELECTIONS. 

Be it enacted, etc., as folloivs : 

Section 1. All ballots cast in elections for national, 
state, district, and county officers in cities and towns after 
the first day of November in the year eighteen hundred 
and eight}r-nine, and all ballots cast in municipal elections 
in cities after that date, shall be printed and distributed 
at public expense, as hereinafter provided. The printing 
of the ballots and cards of instructions to voters shall in 
municipal elections in cities be paid for by the several 
cities respectively, and in all other elections the printing 
of the ballots and cards of instruction, and the delivery of 
them to the several cities and towns, shall be paid for by 
the Commonwealth. The distribution of the ballots to 
the voters shall be paid for by the cities and towns respec- 
tively. The term " state election," as used in this act, 
shall apply to any election held for the choice of a national, 
state, district, or county officer, whether for a full term or 
for the filling of a vacancy, and the term " state officer " 
shall apply to any person to be chosen by the qualified 



38 AUSTEALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

voters at such an election. The term " city election " 
shall apply to any municipal election so held in a city, 
and the term " city officer " shall apply to any person to 
be chosen by the qualified voters at such an election. 

NOMINATIONS OF CANDIDATES. 

Sect. 2. Any convention of delegates, and any caucus 
or meeting of qualified voters, as hereinafter defined, and 
individual voters to the number and in the manner here- 
inafter specified, may nominate candidates for public office, 
whose names shall be placed upon the ballots to be fur- 
nished as herein provided. 

Sect. 3. Any convention of delegates representing a 
political party which, at the election next preceding, polled 
at least three per cent of the entire vote cast in the state, 
or in the electoral district or division thereof for which 
the nomination is made, or any convention of delegates 
who have been selected in caucuses called and held in 
accordance with a special statute providing therefor, and 
any caucus so called and held in any such electoral district 
or division, may for the state or for the district or division 
for which the convention or caucus is held, as the case may 
be, by causing a certificate of nomination to be duly filed, 
make one such nomination for each office therein to be 
filled at the election. Every such certificate of nomina- 
tion shall state such facts as may be required as above for 
its acceptance, and as are required in section five of this 
act; shall be signed by the presiding officer and by the 
secretary of the convention or caucus, who shall add 
thereto their places of residence ; and shall be sworn by 
them to be true to the best of their knowledge and belief, 
and a certificate of the oath shall be annexed to the cer- 

(„) tificate of nomination (a). 

See Note 3, Sect. 4. Nominations of candidates for any offices to 

be filled by the voters of the state at large may be made 
by nomination papers signed in the aggregate for each 

(a') candidate by not less than one thousand qualified voters (a!) 

Queens.' '§49;' of the state. Nominations of candidates for electoral dis- 



MASSACHUSETTS. 39 

tricts or divisions of the state may be made by nomination Gt. Br., a, §i ; 
papers signed in the aggregate for each candidate by quali- i 5 e 5 f '' ' 

fied voters of such district or division, not less in number N fy.; § '5; 
than one for every one hundred persons who voted at the aU( * NoTE 2 > 
next preceding annual election in such district or division, 
but in no case less than fifty (a). In the case of a first elec- 
tion to be held in a town or ward newly established, the 
number of fifty shall be sufficient for the nomination of a 
candidate who is to be voted for only in such town or 
ward (a) ; and in the case of a first election in a district or 
division newly established, other than a town or ward, the 
number of fifty shall be so sufficient («). Each voter sign- 
ing a nomination paper shall add to his signature his place 
of residence, and each voter may subscribe to one nomi- 
nation for each office to be filled, and no more. Women 
qualified to vote for members of the school committee may 
sign nomination papers for candidates for the school com- 
mittee. The nomination papers shall before being filed be 
respectively submitted to the registrars of voters of the 
cities or towns in which the signers purport to be qualified 
voters, and each registrar to whom the same is submitted 
shall forthwith certify thereon what number of the signa- 
tures are names of qualified voters, both in the city or town 
for which he is a registrar, and in the district or division 
for which the nomination is made ; one of the signers to 
each such separate paper shall swear that the statements 
therein are true, to the best of his knowledge and belief, 
and the certificate of such oath shall be annexed. 

Sect. 5. All certificates of nomination and nomination 
papers shall, besides containing the names of candidates, 
specify as to each, (1) the office for which he is nomi- 
nated ; (2) the party or political principle which he repre- 
sents, expressed in not more than three words ; (3) his 
place of residence, with street and number thereon, if any. 
In the case of electors of president and vice-president of 
the United States, the names of the candidates for presi- 
dent and vice-president may be added to the party or 
political appellation. 



40 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

Sect. 6. Certificates of nomination and nomination pa- 
pers for the nomination of candidates for state offices shall 

(b) be filed with the secretary (6) of the Commonwealth at 
Qu4ns^'§ § 49^ ; least (c) fourteen days previous to the day of the elec- 
D% B wf)'.^ 8 ' tion (d) for which the candidates are nominated. Such 
Beig., § 106; certificates and papers for the nomination of candidates 

Kv.. §2; 

N. y., §4. for the offices of mayor and of aldermen in cities shall be 

(c) filed with the city clerks (5) of the respective cities at least 
p^65. ° TE 1 ' ten days (d) previous to the day of such election, and for 

d the nomination of candidates for all other city offices at 

s. Austr. §46; i eas t six days (d~) previous to the day of such election. 

Queens., §§48, J v y x " 

49; Sect. 7. The certificates of nomination and nomination 

Gt.Br.,B.§§4. . „ . 

14, d, §i(3); papers being so filed, and oemg in apparent conformity 

Ky.fl!; ° with the provisions of this act, shall be deemed to be valid, 

x. \., j 8. unless objection thereto is duly made in writing. Such 

objections or other questions arising in relation thereto in 

the case of nominations of state officers shall be considered 

(,,) by (/) the secretary of the Commonwealth and the auditor 

D^i'ls^and an( l attorney-general, and the decision of the majority of 

Xute i-3, p. 65. these officers shall be final. Such objections or questions 

arising in the case of nominations of city officers shall be 

considered by (e) the board of registrars of voters, together 

Avith the city clerk, if not a member of such board, and 

the city solicitor; and the decision of a majority of these 

officers shall be final. In case such objection is made 

notice shall forthwith be mailed to the candidates affected 

thereby, addressed to their residences as given in the cer- 

(e') tificates of nomination or nomination papers (Y). 

Sect. 8. Any person whose name has been presented 
(/ ^ as a candidate may cause his name to be withdrawn (/) 

^ e ™ s, '| 5 ^ from nomination, by request in writing signed by him 
d, § i (T): and acknowledged before an officer qualified to take ac- 
knowledgments of deeds, and filed with the secretary of 
the Commonwealth ten days, or with the proper city clerk 
five days, as the case may be, previous to the day of elec- 
tion : and no name so withdrawn shall be printed upon the 
ballots. Xo nomination published and posted as herein 
provided shall be subsequently omitted as invalid. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 41 

Sect. 9. All certificates of nomination and nomination 
papers when filed shall be open under proper regulations 
to public inspection, and the secretary of the Common- 
wealth and the several city clerks shall preserve the same 
in their respective offices not less than five years. 

FORM OF BALLOTS. 

Sect. 10. Every general ballot, or ballot intended for 
the use of all male voters, which shall be printed in ac- 
cordance with the provisions of this act, shall contain the 
names, residences, together with street and number, if 
any, and the party or political designation of all candi- 
dates whose nominations for any offices specified in the 
ballot have been duly made and not withdrawn in accord- 
ance herewith, and shall contain no other names. Except 
that in the case of electors of president and vice-president 
of the United States the names of the candidates for presi- 
dent and vice-president may be added to the party or 
political designation./ The names of candidates for eachT\ 
office shall be arranged (j?) under the designation of the ($) 
office in alphabetical order, according to surnames, except Qaeens.,"§Vs'; ' 
that the names of candidates for the offices of electors of d! §i'(6); ' 
president and vice-president shall be arranged in groups, ^ ;?•' *§ 114 > 
as presented in the several certificates of nomination or^ v §4; 

. N. Y., § 14; 

nomination papers. There shall be left at the end of the an i Note 4, 
list of candidates for each different office as many blank 
spaces as there are persons to be elected to such office, in 
which the voter may insert (h) the name of any person, (h 
not printed on the ballot, for whom he desires to vote as n"jy.! §'i3: 
candidate for such office. Whenever the approval of a an<|NoTEi6, 
constitutional amendment or other question is submitted 
to the vote of the people, such questions shall be printed 
upon the ballot after the list of candidates. /Special ba 
lots in cities, containing only the names of candidates for 
the school committee, shall also be prepared in like man- 
ner and printed for the use of women qualified according 
to law to vote for members of the school committee. The 
ballots shall be so printed as to give to each voter a clear 



42 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

opportunity to designate by a cross mark [x] in a suffi- 
cient margin at the right of the name of each candidate, 
his choice of candidates and his answer to the questions 
submitted, and on the ballot may be printed such words 
as will aid the voter to do this, as" " vote for one," " vote 
for three," "yes," "no," and the like. The ballot shall 
(0 be of the length now required by law (i) and two or more 

134 inland not times such width. Before distribution the ballots shall be 
^f^^" so folded in marked creases that their width and length 
§ 27). when folded shall be those of the ballot now required by 

law. On the back and outside when folded, shall be 
printed " Official Ballot for," followed by the designation 
of the polling-place for which the ballot is prepared, the 
date of the election, and a fac-simile of the signature of 
the secretary of the Commonwealth or city clerk who has 
(,•) caused the ballot to be printed (j). The special ballots 

Oueen^'Ai 7 ' printed in cities for the use of women qualified to vote for 
Gt-Br.,A,§2, school committee shall contain the additional endorsement 
Beig., §§ 123, that they are for such use only. Except as otherwise 
kW. §§4, 7; herein provided, ballots shall be printed in accordance 
andXoTEV, with the existing provisions of law. 
p ' ° 9, Sect. 11. All ballots when printed shall be folded as 

hereinbefore provided and fastened together in convenient 
numbers in books or blocks, in such manner that each 
ballot may be detached and removed separately. A rec- 
ord of the number of ballots printed and furnished to each 
polling-place shall be kept and preserved by the secretary 
of the Commonwealth and the several city clerks. 

Sect. 12. There shall be provided for each voting 
place, at which an election is to be held, two sets of such 
general ballots, each of not less than one hundred for 
every fifty and fraction of fifty registered male voters 
{ jc) therein (&), and likewise two sets of such special ballots, 

QutS'^y^ each of not less than one hundred, for every fifty and 
x"T § I'i6 fraction of fifty women qualified to vote for school com- 
mittee therein ; and it shall be the duty of the registrars of 
voters in each city or town in which an election for state 
officers is to be held, to certify to the secretary of the 



MASSACHUSETTS. 43 

Commonwealth fourteen days previous to any such elec- 
tion, the number of male registered voters in each voting 
precinct or in each town which is not divided into voting 
precincts, and in cities the number of women so registered 
as voters. 

INFORMATION TO VOTERS. 

Sect. 13. The secretary of the Commonwealth, in case 
of a State election, and the several city clerks, in case of 
city elections, shall prepare full instructions for the guid- 
ance of voters at such elections, as to obtaining ballots, 
as to the manner of marking them, and the method of 
gaining assistance, and as to obtaining new ballots in place 
of those accidentally spoiled, and they shall respectively 
cause the same, together with copies of sections twenty- 
seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, and thirty of this Act to 
be printed in large, clear type, on separate cards, to be 
called cards of instructions ; and they shall respectively 
furnish the same and the ballots for use in each such elec- 
tion. They shall also cause to be printed on tinted paper, 
and without the fac-simile indorsements, ten or more cop- 
ies of the form of the ballot provided for each voting place 
at each election therein, which shall be called specimen 
ballots, and shall be furnished with the other ballots pro- 
vided for each such voting place. 

Sect. 14. The secretary of the Commonwealth shall, 
six days at least previous to the day of any election of 
State officers, transmit to the registrars of voters in each 
city and town in which such election is to be held, printed 
lists containing the names, residences, and party or politi- 
cal appellations of all candidates nominated as herein pro- 
vided for such election, and to be voted for at each polling 
place in each such city and town respectively, substan- 
tially in the form of the general ballot to be so used 
therein; and the registrars of voters shall immediately 
cause the lists for each town or voting precinct, as the 
case n;ay be, to be conspicuously posted (I) in one or 
more public places in such town or voting precinct. The 



44 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

secretary of the Commonwealth shall likewise cause to be 
published (I) prior to the day of any such election, in at 
least two newspapers, if there be so many, published in 
each county, representing, as far as practicable, the polit- 
ical parties which, at the preceding election, cast the 
largest and next largest number of votes, a list of all the 
nominations made as herein provided, and to be voted 
for in such county, so far as may be, in the form in which 
(/) they shall appear upon the general ballots. 

QutS!"'^ |J; Sect. 15. The city clerk of each city shall four days 
^ 3; -n -o , n at least prior to the day of any city election therein, cause 

Gt. Br.. B, § 9. L J 

d, § i (3); to be conspicuously posted (l) in one or more public places 
Ky., §5; " in each voting precinct of such city a printed list contain- 
ing the names, residences, and party or political appella- 
tions of all candidates nominated, as herein provided, and 
to be voted for in such precinct, substantially in the form 
of the general ballot to be so used therein ; and he shall 
likewise cause to be published (/), prior to the day of such 
election in at least two newspapers, if there be so many, 
published in such city, representing the political parties 
which cast at the preceding election the largest and next 
largest number of votes, a list of all the nominations made, 
as herein provided, and to be voted for in such city, so far 
as may be, in the form in which they shall appear upon 
the general ballots. 

DELIYEEY OF BALLOTS TO CITIES AND TOWNS. 

Sect. 16. The secretary of the Commonwealth shall 
send, separately and at different times or by different 
methods, the two sets of general and special ballots, 
together with the specimen ballots and cards of instruc- 
tion printed by him, as herein provided, to the several 
city and town clerks, so as to be received by them, one 
set forty-eight hours at least previous to the day of elec- 
tion, and the other set twenty-four hours at least previous 
thereto. The same shall be sent in sealed packages, with 
marks on the outside clearly designating the polling-place 
for which thev are intended and the number of ballots of 



MASSACHUSETTS. 45 

each kind enclosed ; and the respective city and town 
clerks shall on delivery to them of such packages return 
receipts therefor to the secretary. The secretary shall 
keep a record of the time when, and the manner in which 
the several packages are sent, and shall preserve for the 
period of one year the receipts of the city and town clerks. 

Sect. 17. The two sets of ballots, together with the 
specimen ballots and cards of instruction printed by the 
city clerks, as herein provided, shall be packed by them 
in separate sealed packages, with marks on the outside 
clearly designating the polling precincts for which they 
are intended, and the number of ballots of each kind 
enclosed. 

Sect. 18. The several city and town clerks shall send 
to the election officers of each voting-place before the 
opening of the polls on the day of election one set of bal- 
lots so prepared, sealed, and marked for such voting-place, 
and a receipt of such delivery shall be returned to them 
from the presiding or senior election officer present, which 
receipt, with a record of the number of ballots sent, shall 
be kept in the clerks' office. At the opening of the polls 
in each polling-place the seals of the packages shall be 
publicly broken, and the packages shall be opened by 
the presiding election officer, and the books or blocks of 
ballots shall be delivered to the ballot officers hereinafter 
provided for. The cards of instruction shall be immedi- 
ately posted at or in each voting shelf or compartment 
provided in -accordance with this act for the marking of 
the ballots, and not less than three such cards and not less 
than five specimen ballots shall be immediately posted in 
or about the polling-room, outside the guard-rails. The 
second set of ballots shall be retained by the respective 
clerks until they are called for or needed for the purposes 
of voting, and, upon the requisition in writing of the pre- 
siding election officer of any voting-place, the second set 
of ballots shall be furnished to such voting-place in the 
manner above provided as to the first set. 

Sect. 19. In case the ballots to be furnished to any city 



46 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

or town or voting-place therein, in accordance with the 
provisions of this act, shall fail for any reason to be duly 
delivered, or in case after delivery they shall be destroyed 
or stolen, it shall be the duty of the clerk of such city or 
town to cause other ballots to be prepared substantially in 
the form of the ballots so wanting and to be furnished ; 
and upon receipt of such other ballots from him, accom- 
panied by a statement under oath that the same have been 
so prepared and furnished by him, and that the original 
ballots have so failed to be received or have been so de- 
stroyed or stolen, the election officers shall cause the ballots 
so substituted to be used in lieu of the ballots wanting, as 
above. 

ADDITIONAL ELECTION OFFICERS. 

Sect. 20. Two inspectors, with two deputy inspectors, 
& A additional to those now provided for (m), shall be appointed 

V iz., a warden, *- v ' ■*■ x 

clerk, and two [ n eS iQh voting precinct in cities and in towns divided into 

inspectors. _ . , , . . j. , ■. ,. , . 

The deputy voting precincts, and the provisions ot law relative to m- 
substitutes as spectors and deputy inspectors shall be applicable to such 
only * additional officers. Two of the inspectors acting in each 

voting precinct shall be detailed to act as ballot clerks. 
In towns not divided into voting precincts, two inspectors, 
with deputy inspectors, shall be appointed, in accordance 
with the provisions of law applicable to such officers in 
towns so divided, and the two inspectors thus serving shall 
act as ballot clerks. The two ballot clerks detailed and 
appointed as above in each voting precinct and town shall 
have the charge of the ballots therein, and shall furnish 
them to the voters in the manner hereinafter set forth. A 
duplicate list of the qualified voters in each precinct and 
each town not divided into precincts shall be prepared for 
the use of the ballot clerks, and all the provisions of law 
relative to the preparation, furnishing, and preservation of 
check-lists shall apply to such duplicate lists. 

VOTING SHELVES OR COMPARTMENTS. 

Sect. 21. The officers in each city or town whose duty 
it is to designate and appoint polling-places therein shall 



MASSACHUSETTS. 47 

cause the same to be suitably provided with a sufficient 
number of voting shelves or compartments (w), at or in M 
which voters may conveniently mark their ballots, so that Queens .*"'§ 59;' 
in the marking thereof they may be screened from the ob- Beige's lif* 6 ' 
servation of others, and a guard-rail shall be so constructed £ y, ,v§ ? ; ™ 
and placed that only such persons as are inside said rail and NoTE 5, 
can approach within six feet of the ballot-boxes and of 
such voting shelves or compartments. The arrangement 
shall be such that neither the ballot-boxes nor the voting; 
shelves or compartments shall be hidden from view of those 
just outside the said guard-rail. The number of such vot- 
ing shelves or compartments shall not be less than one for 
every seventy-five voters qualified to vote at such polling- 
place, and not less than three in any town or precinct 
thereof, and not less than ten in any voting precinct of a 
city (0). No persons other than the election officers and (o) 
voters admitted as hereinafter provided shall be permitted Gt'.^B, § ig ; 
within said rail (jo), except by authority of the election K yf§ I- 118 ' 
officers for the purpose of keeping order and enforcing the N- Y "' § 20 * 
law. Each voting shelf or compartment shall be kept pro- (p). 

.,,.,, ,. , . j. 1 • S. Austr., §59; 

vided with proper supplies and conveniences for marking Queens., § 59; 

,, , ,, , Gt. Br., B, §21; 

the ballots. Beig., § 97* 

Kv., §17; 
N*. Y.,§ 20; 
PREPARATION OF BALLOTS. and Note 1, 

p. 52. 

Sect. 22. Any person desiring to vote shall give his 
name, and, if requested so to do, his residence, to one of 
the ballot clerks, who shall thereupon announce the same 
in a loud and distinct tone of voice, clear and audible, and 
if such name is found upon the check-list by the ballot 
officer having charge thereof, he shall likewise repeat the 
said name, and the voter shall be allowed to enter the space 
enclosed by the guard-rail as above provided. The ballot 
clerk (q~) shall give him one, and only one, ballot, and his (?) 
name shall be immediately checked on said list. If theiv. ; USI 
voter is a woman, she shall receive a special ballot contain- q" # b" s ''b ^l'o- 
ing the names of candidates for school committee only, Beig., §123; 
Besides the election officers, not more than four voters in N. Y., § 21 ; 
excess of the number of voting shelves or compartments p. 59. 



48 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

provided shall be allowed in said enclosed space at 

time. 

/ Sect. 23. On receipt of his ballot the voter shall forth- 
/with, and without leaving the enclosed space, retire alone 

to one of the voting shelves or compartments so provided 
(?) and shall prepare his ballot by marking (?•) in the appro- 

y'[^ U:>^ ■' * ■' priate margin or place, a cross [X] opposite the name of 
Gt ie Br S ''t 7 ^2 tne candidate of his choice for each office to be filled, or 
B 'J 25; P-t.. bv filling: in the name of the candidate of his choice in the 

•• i orm of Di- * ° 

rectionsfor ' blank space provided therefor, and marking a cross [X] 

Beig.,A, § 124; opposite thereto ; (r) and, in case of a question submitted 

Kyi, § 9; to the vote of the people, by marking in the appropriate 

and\oTE9 margin or place, a cross [X] against the answer which he 

p- 62, desires to give. Before leaving the voting shelf or com- 

partment the voter shall fold his ballot, without displaying 

the marks thereon, in the same way it was folded when 

J received by him, and he shall keep the same so folded 

until he has voted. He shall vote in the manner now 

provided by law (s) before leaving the enclosed space, 



•oter giv 



The voter gives aud ghall deposit his ballot in the box with the official 

his name to \ * 

the presiding endorsement uppermost. He shall mark and deposit his 

officer, who an- *■ .. 1 , 

nounces it in a ballot without undue delay and shall quit said enclosed 
officerinchar* space as soon as he has voted. No such voter shall be 
animate fcf allowed to occupy a voting shelf or compartment already 
and the voter 0CCUD ied by another, nor to remain within said enclosed 

then deposits r J ' 

his ballot (1884, S p ace more than ten minutes (t), nor to occupy a voting 

shelf or compartment for more than five minutes in case 

Kv., § 12; all of such shelves or compartments are in use, and other 

N. v., § 23. voters are waiting to occupy the same. No voter not an 

: election officer whose name has been checked on the list 

of the ballot officers, shall be allowed to re-enter said en- 

! closed space during said election. It shall be the duty of 

the presiding election officer for the time being to secure 

x&e observance of the provisions of this section. 

Sect. 24. No person shall take or remove any ballot 

from the polling-place before the close of the polls. If 

(«) any voter spoils a ballot (w) he may successively obtain 

s.^Austr., 5 , Qt j ierg one at a t j me ^ not exceeding three in all, upon re- 



MASSACHUSETTS. 49 

iw 'ft spoiled one. The ballots thus returned shall Gt.Br.,B,§28; 

° Belg., § 125; 

bv aly cancelled, and together with those not Ky., §9; 

distributed to the voters, shall be preserved and with the ' ''* 
check-list used by the ballot clerks, which shall be certi- 
fied by them to be such, shall be secured in an envelope, 
sealed, and sent to the several city and town clerks, as 
required by law in the case of the ballots cast, and the 
other check-list used. 

Sect. 25. Any voter who declares to the presiding' 
election officer that he was a voter prior to the first day 
of May in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, and 
cannot read (v), or that by blindness or other physicalj' 
disability he is unable to mark his ballot (v), shall, uponi(t>) 

, . „ n ,, , . IS. Austr., § 58, 

request, receive the assistance or one or two 01 the election wii; 
officers in the marking thereof, and such officer or officers G^Br?,B;§26; 
shall certify on the outside thereof that it was so marked k^'§ \of 3; 
with his or their assistance, and shall thereafter give no ^ nd ^j^ 5 8 ; 
information regarding the same. The presiding officer pA6i. 
may in his discretion require such declaration of disability 
to be made by the voter under oath before him, and he is 
hereby qualified to administer the same. 

Sect. 26. If the voter marks more names than there 
are persons to be elected to an office, or if for any reason 
it is impossible to determine the voter's choice for any 
office to be filled, his ballot shall not be counted for such 
office. No ballot without the official endorsement shall, 
except as herein otherwise provided, be allowed to be de- 
posited in the ballot-box, and none but ballots provided 
in accordance with the provisions of this act shall be 
counted (10). Ballots not counted shall be marked " de- («o 
fective " on the back thereof, and shall be preserved. Queens., '§76;' 

Gt. Br., A. §2; 
Belff., §§ 124, 
PENALTIES. 147; 

Ky.. § 11 ; 

Sect. 27. A voter who shall, except as herein other- n. Y.,§§13, 

' L 28 ; and Notk 

wise provided, allow his ballot to be seen by any person 10, p. 63. 
with an apparent intention of letting it be known how he • 
is about to vote, or who shall make a false statement as to 
his inability to mark his ballot, or any person who shall 

4 



50 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

interfere, or attempt to interfere with ar T vot -r \ en 
inside said enclosed space or when niarkin^ \ or 

who shall endeavor to induce any voter before voting to 
show how he marks or has marked his ballot, shall be pun- 
ished by fine of not less than five dollars nor more than 
one hundred dollars ; and election officers shall report any 
person so doing to the police officer in charge of the polls, 
whose duty it shall be to see that the offender is duly 
brought before the proper court. 

Sect. 28. Any person who shall, prior to an election, 
wilfully deface or destroy any list of candidates posted in 
accordance with the provisions of this act, or who, during 
an election, shall wilfully deface, tear down, remove or 
destroy any card of instruction or specimen ballot printed 
or posted for the instruction of voters, or who shall during 
an election wilfully remove or destroy any of the supplies 
or conveniences furnished to enable a voter to prepare his 
ballot, or shall wilfully hinder the voting of others, shall 
be punished by fine of not less than five dollars nor more 
than one hundred dollars. 

Sect. 29. Any person who shall falsely make or wilfully 
deface or destroy any certificate of nomination or nomina- 
tion-paper, or any part thereof, or any letter of withdrawal ; 
or file any certificate of nomination or nomination-paper or 
letter of withdrawal, knowing the same or any part thereof 
to be falsely made ; or suppress any certificate of nomina- 
tion or nomination-paper, or any part thereof which has been 
duly filed ; or forge or falsely make the official endorsement 
on any ballot ; or wilfully destroy or deface any ballot, or 
wilfully delay the delivery of any ballots, shall be punished 
by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprison- 
ment in the jail not more than one year, or by both such 
fine and imprisonment. 

Sect. 80. Any public officer upon whom a duty is im- 
posed by this act, who shall wilfully neglect to perform 
such duty (#), or who shall wilfully perform it in such 
( x ) _ a way as to hinder the objects of this act (V), shall be 

Queens.,' § T20; punished by fine of not less than five nor more than one 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



51 



thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in jail for not more Gt. Br., ,Av§ n ; 
than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. and Note ii, 

Approved May 29, 1888. p - 64> 



(a.) 

Form op Ballot used under the above Act. 

(See the model at the end of the book.) 

(5.) 

Polling Arrangements under the above Act. 




The voter enters at the right-hand lower corner, receives his ballot from a 
ballot officer (not shown in this sketch), and then goes to the shelves, where 
he finds full instructions posted. He there marks and folds his ballot, and 
on his way out deposits it in the ballot-box in front of the election officers, 
as shown. 



52 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

Note 1. 
Presence of the Public at the Polls. 

(Mass., § 21 ; S. Austr, § 59 ; Queens., § 59 ; Gt. Brit., B, § 21 ; Belg., § 97; 
Ky., §§17, 18; N. Y., §§ 20, 32.) 

The provisions intended to prevent disorder and undue solici- 
tation at the polls vary in strictness: — 1. In Massachusetts 
the public are excluded only from the railed space within the 
voting-room ; that is, only from a space reasonably sufficient 
to ensure secrecy in marking the vote. 2. In South Australia, 
Queensland, Kentucky, Great Britain, and Belgium, the public 
are excluded from the entire polling-room. 3. In New York, 
the public are excluded from the railed space, and, in addition, 
" electioneering," presumabby including solicitation, canvassing, 
etc., is forbidden within one hundred feet of the polling-room. 
The strong objection to the exclusion of the public from the 
entire room is that it leaves the puritj 7 of the election entirely in 
the hands of the agents or inspectors of the respective parties ; 
for in order to perpetrate almost ever}' fraud it would only be 
necessary to buy up the election officers of the opposite party. 
Still more undesirable is such a regulation in the interest of in- 
dependent candidates, who in most States are not allowed to be 
represented by separate inspectors ; the independent vote, by 
an arrangement between the agents of the two leading parties, 
could easily be disposed of (as the recent example of a far 
Western cit}' indicates). Reasons of safet}- make it absolutely 
indispensable that access to a reasonable portion of the voting- 
room should be permitted to any and every citizen during the 
entire course of the election. If it is objected that the directions 
by an illiterate to the officer for marking his vote are, as in the 
English Act, required to be made aloud in the presence of the 
representatives of each party, and would be heard by every one 
present, if the public were admitted, the answer is that these 
can be and should be made privateby in one of the compartments 
to (as in Massachusetts) a single representative, selected b} T the 
voter himself. 

The best plan would seem to be, as in New York, to (1) ex- 
clude the public from the railed space only ; (2) forbid solicitation 
or canvassing of any sort in the remainder of the polling-room, 
and within one hundred feet from the exterior. 



NOTES. 53 

Note 2. 
Number of Electors necessary for a Nomination. 

(Mass., § 4 ; S. Austr., § 48 ; Queens., §§ 48, 49; Gt. Brit., A, § 1 ; 
Belg., §§ 106, 155 ; Ky., § 2 ; N. Y., § 5.) 

In determining the number of signatures necessary to be 
obtained in order to put a candidate in nomination, the single 
object is of course to place all on a practically equal footing, 
and to impose only such restrictions as are necessary to prevent 
the ballot from being encumbered with the names of unbalanced 
persons and men of straw. But even though (as in Massachu- 
setts) a minimum of fifty be established, very few aspirants will 
be found who cannot muster a sufficient number of names ; and 
the better way, since the number of signatures is practically no 
hindrance, is to place the required number as low even as in 
South Australia (two), and thus, while losing no benefit, avoid 
even that appearance of exclusiveness for which the Massachu- 
setts law has sometimes been attacked. The real restrictions on 
the number of candidates will be found to be, as English and 
Australian experience shows, public opinion and the interests of 
the aspirants. The former will throw ridicule on a candidacy 
which has no support ; and the latter will, as now, have a power- 
ful deterrent influence wherever there is not some strong ground 
for the candidacy. 

A reason in England for fixing the number of signatures as 
low as ten seems to have been the desire not to pledge or to 
make public the political action of a larger number of electors. 
This would be a serious consideration where, as formerly in 
Greece, 1 a nomination-paper must contain the signatures of one- 
twentieth of the electors of the district ; and even under the 
Massachusetts law, if three nominations for a city council are 
made in a ward containing 1200 electors or less, an opportunity 
is offered for coercing 150 electors into a virtual pledge which 
they may consider morally binding upon them at the polls. It 
would seem to be better to require as few names as possible, — 
perhaps not more than ten, — thus losing nothing, and avoiding 
certain probable disadvantages. 

1 Pari. Papers, 1868-9, vol. viii., p. 416; for the present rule, see Part 
VIII., N., infra. 



54 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

In Queensland (§ 55) the device of requiring a deposit, to be 
returned to candidates receiving one-fifth the vote of the suc- 
cessful candidate having the smallest number of votes, has been 
adopted for the purpose of limiting the number of candidates. 
This may be expedient enough under the political conditions of 
some communities ; but it is to be remembered that in this 
country a candidacy may be hopeless as regards the election of 
the nominee, and yet important and highly desirable as a means 
of exhibiting the strength of a section of electors or of a partic- 
ular movement, and of thus compelling the attention of the lead- 
ing parties and the modification of their platforms and legislative 
policies. 1 The Queensland provision would bear unfairly, for 
example, upon the labor vote and the prohibition vote in many 
States, — to name no other movements whose only hope fre- 
quently lies in emphasizing their growing strength by the figures 
of their vote and demanding a clue consideration. It would 
seem, therefore, that the plan of requiring a returnable deposit 
is not adapted to our political methods, and that its adoption 
would be ill-advised. 

Note 3. 

Acceptance of the Nomination. 

(S. Austr., §48; Belg., §107) 

An acceptance of the nomination is required by two only 
of the seven principal statutes ; but it ought to be a general 
requirement. In the first place, wherever a securit}* for the 
expenses of election is required, an acceptance is desirable in 
order to avoid disputes as to the responsibility of the candidate 
or his nominators. Secondly, it prevents the unauthorized use 
of a prominent name, and the difficulties that might ensue in 
such a case. Thirdly, it places on record the deliberate deci- 
sion of the nominee to appear as a candidate, and thus, while 
not preventing a withdrawal for good reasons, it places the 
burden of explanation upon one who withdraws, and throws 
difficulties in the way of a withdrawal for improper reasons, and 
of such ' ' deals " and other political tricks as are now only too 
common. In the same way, it tends to prevent the practice of 

1 See Bryce, Amer. Commonwealth, ii. 222, where the importance of 
minority protests is touched upon. 



NOTES. 55 

putting up a candidate for the sole purpose of withdrawing him 
for a consideration to be received from opposing interests. Any 
regulation which tends to make public the reasons for withdrawal 
is a good one, for proper reasons will not fear publicity. 

Note 4. 
Arrangement of Contents of Ballot. 

(Mass., § 10; S. Austr., § 55; Queens., § 58; Gt. Brit, B, § 22; D, § 1 (6) ; 
Belg., §§ 114, 115; Ky., § 4; N. Y., § 14.) 

The arrangement of the contents of the ballot offers a large 
field for difference of opinion, although it may be suggested that 
anv intelligent arrangement will answer the purpose, and that 
the importance of the different variations that have been adopted 
is practically not very great. Some of the more noticeable dif- 
ferences of method will be commented on. 

1. In the beginning the question presents itself whether the 
names shall be arranged, as in Belgium and New York, in 
groups representing the nominations of one party for all offices, 
or as in Canada (see Part VIII., G.), Kentucky, and Massa- 
chusetts, in groups representing all nominations for the same 
office, the order of names being alphabetical. The principal 
consideration in favor of the former mode is that where a read- 
ing and writing qualification does not exist, it greatly helps the 
illiterate voter ; for this plan allows a vote to be given for all 
the candidates of one party by making a single cross at the head 
of the list, and as the illiterate will know beforehand the position 
of his party list, he has only to make his cross there and the 
matter is ended. This consideration would entirely disappear 
in view of the clause (which presumably would be found in most 
statutes ) permitting assistance to be given to illiterates by elec- 
tion officers, were it not for a fact brought out by English ex- 
perience. It is that man}- illiterates, disliking to make confession 
and ask assistance, prefer to take the ballot and guess at the 
name they wish to mark. If this class of voters could be shown 
to include an} 7 appreciable number, their protection ought to be 
considered ; although it ma}* be questioned whether a plan other- 
wise desirable should be rejected for the sake of those who, by 
refusing to acknowledge the fact of their illiteracy, voluntarily 
expose themselves to mistake. Another consideration in favor 



56 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

of the first method is that the marking of the vote for those 
who desire to vote an entire ticket is simpler and speedier. 
It is to be observed, however, not only that this gain would 
not affect those electors who vote independently of party, but 
that for the voter who goes outside of the party ticket for so 
much as a single name (and these voters may be roughly esti- 
mated at one third or more of the whole number) this mode of 
arrangement has no advantages, since he must in that case mark 
individually each of the remaining party candidates for whom he 
votes, though they fall short one only of the entire number. 

A serious objection to the first method is that it may in many 
cases be impracticable. Any one who will refer to the discus- 
sions in the Belgian Chamber 1 will see what disputes they fell 
into, within a year after putting the system into operation, over 
the expediency of this method. It applies well enough where 
two parties only are in the field. But when independent candi- 
dates are named, and other parties make nominations, its diffi- 
culty is that it becomes cumbrous, and, unless the New York 
system of printing separate ballots, six or seven in all, for dif- 
ferent classes of offices, is adopted, it may prove absolutely 
impracticable. Even the adoption of the separate ballot system 
of New York might to some seem only the substitution of one 
piece of unwieldy machinery for another, A second objection is 
that where, as in many places at elections of local officers, the 
national party lines are not drawn, this method becomes useless 
and out of place. A list of candidates for all such offices is 
usually nominated by a single convention or committee, but it 
does not alwa}*s have coherency, and the pei*sonal merits of each 
candidate generally determine the electors' action. 

Other objections also suggest themselves. The first plan tends 
to foster a sheep-like and unintelligent manner of voting for the 
local offices. The voter quickly marks the entire list of his part}*, 
and if on the same ballot are the names of candidates for the 
lesser and local offices, whose needs are governed by perhaps an 
entirely different set of considerations, no suggestion of this is 
brought to the voter's mind, but he is incited to judge the needs 
of the nation and of the count}* by one and the same test of 
policy and in one and the same mental effort. It may also 
be suggested that in one or two ways it operates unfairly upon 

1 Annuaire de legis. etrang., vol. xviii., 1878, notes to pp. 466, et seq. 



NOTES. 57 

individual candidates. It forces them to declare absolutely for 
one party or another, while they may in fact prefer to sail under 
a compromise name, such as " Labor Democrat," and yet would 
rather stand in a party list than be numbered among the inde- 
pendents. It also handicaps a popular candidate for a lesser 
office by (to a great extent) influencing the sheep-like voters of 
the opposite party to overlook their own candidate for the lesser 
office, and by thus confining the popular candidate to his strict 
party vote, which may fall far short of a plurality. Moreover, the 
list of independent candidates, as it appears by the side of the full 
party lists, suffers in moral weight (for want of a better phrase), 
has a detached and uninviting appearance, depriving them of 
that equal footing which it is the great design of the S3'stem 
that every candidate should have. These objections, it may 
be answered, apply equally to the present system of voting by 
tickets. They do ; and it is simply because the people wish to 
do away with the inequalities and injustice of that system that 
we should hesitate to use a method of party lists which retains 
some of the same imperfections. It is a method vastly in ad- 
vance of the present S3'stem ; but it is not perfect, while the 
plan employed in Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Canada, though 
not perfect, is certainly free from the objections that have been 
mentioned. Perfect equality upon the ballot-paper for all can- 
didates is what should be insisted upon. 1 

2. In making provision for the benefit of illiterates, other ex- 
pedients have also been adopted. In England, Belgium, and 
Quebec (see Part VIII., H), a number is placed to the left of 
each candidate's name. In Ontario, for elections to the Pro- 
vincial Assembly, each candidate's name is printed in a differ- 
ent color (Part* VIII., G). In Belgium (Part V.) the Liberal 
names are printed in blue ink, the Catholic names in carmine, 
and the independent nominees in black. The plan of using 
figures would seem a satisfactory one, although it would be 
practically useless where, as at most elections, a large number 
of offices are to be filled, and the voter could not memorize the 

1 The editor will state, as his impression, that the party list method, as 
adopted by the New York legislature, was a compromise measure (one, at 
least, of the three bills there introduced being not much more than a sop 
thrown to reform), and that this method, as finally incorporated in the bill 
would not be considered as the best by the friends of the system, but only 
as the best that could be secured. 



58 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

order of the names for each office. The color device is also an 
effective one ; but it would be expensive, and is apt to foster a 
rivalry based on party emblems rather than on party principles. 
All these contrivances seem to be unnecessary wherever the elec- 
tion officers are required to give assistance to illiterates, and 
would cumber the ballot to no good purpose. 

3. The Massachusetts ballot, an example of which is appended 
to this volume, shows the feasibility of placing the names of all 
candidates upon one ballot. If city offices are also to be filled 
at the same election (a practice which ought to be discontinued, 
as it has been in Massachusetts), or if presidential electors 
("useless cogwheels" that will before long be swept away) are 
to be elected, the names may be placed on a separate ballot, or 
may be placed on an additional fold of the same ballot (as the 
Massachusetts law provides). Whether the titles of the offices 
should be placed, as in Kentucky (Part VI.) and Ontario (Part 
VIII., G), at the side of the group of candidates, or horizon- 
tally above each group, as in Massachusetts, is not a matter 
of much moment ; but the latter would seem to be the method 
most convenient, and most in accord with the present customary 
arrangement, which should be followed so far as possible. 

Note 5. 

Arrangement of the Polling- Room. 

(Mass., § 21 ; S. Austr., § 54 ; Queens., § 59 ; Gt. Brit., B, § 16 ; Belg., § 117 ; 
Ky., § 8 ; N. Y., § 20.) 

A very simple and inexpensive structure will suffice to furnish 
entire secrecy in marking the ballot. Perhaps the arrangement 
shown in the illustration {supra, p. 51) is as good as any. In 
Kentucky the compartment resembles a sentry-box, and the voter 
enters and closes the door. It would seem that by this plan very 
little light would be furnished for marking the ballot. There is, 
however, a more serious objection. While the act of marking 
should be screened from all observation, yet the person of the 
voter should remain in plain sight. This is necessary in order 
to prevent attempts at fraud, — substitution of non-official bal- 
lot, exhibiting the ballot, etc. ; and is provided for b}" the Massa- 
chusetts plan of arrangement. The voter's person should be in 
sight, not only while marking his ballot, but during the entire 



NOTES. 59 

period from the time of receiving the ballot to the time of de- 
positing it ; and therefore the plan sometimes adopted in Eng- 
land (and provided for by the Wisconsin law, Part VIII., I.) 
of using one room for receiving and depositing the ballot, and 
an adjoining room for marking the vote, is not desirable. The 
simplest and safest arrangement seems to be that shown in the 
illustration above, by which the voter, entering at one gate, 
passes around and deposits his vote, without once retracing 
his steps or leaving the room. 

Note 6. 
Delivery of the Ballot. 

(Mass., § 22; S. Austr., § 58, IV.; Queens., § 71 ; Gt. Brit., B, § 50; Belg., 
§123; Ky, §7; N. Y., § 21.) 

If the Massachusetts polling arrangement be adopted, the 
ballot clerk will of course be the officer to deliver the ballots 
to voters, while the presiding officer attends to the business of 
receiving ballots. But this division of labor should in any case 
be insisted upon. Three of the above statutes place both duties 
upon the presiding officer ; but it is manifestly impossible that 
while attending to his principal duty of questioning voters, re- 
ceiving the ballots, and verifying the official mark upon them, 
he can at the same time properly distribute ballots to those 
applying for them. 

Note 7. 

Identification of Official Ballot. 

(Mass., § 10 ; S. Austr., § 57 ; Queens., § 71 ; Gt. Brit., A, § 2, B, § 24 ; Belg., 
§§123,151; Ky.,§§4,7; N. T, § 21.) 

An examination of the above sections will show the variety of 
the modes adopted by the different legislatures for guarding 
against frauds in connection with the ballot. Each method will 
sufficiently suggest its special advantages or drawbacks ; but a 
few points of difference ma}^ here be noted : — 

1. Whether the official mark should be placed on all the 
ballots before the opening of the polls (as in Massachusetts) or 
upon each one immediately before delivery to the voter (as in 
England) is a matter for some doubt. When there is a press of 
voters, the placing of the official mark, if done at the time of 



60 AUSTKALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

the deliver of each ballot, is apt to be hurried, and its inadver- 
tent omission may disfranchise an innocent voter. For this 
reason it was proposed in England, in 1876, to do away with 
the official mark, or to permit it to be placed in advance on all 
the ballots; but neither proposal was adopted. Probably the 
inconvenience in England largely resulted from the practice, 
already referred to, of requiring the presiding officer to dis- 
tribute and to receive ballots at the same time. The danger of 
counterfeiting the design seems not to be greater under the 
Massachusetts method, for in either case the block must be pre- • 
pared beforehand. Whatever the method followed, a stamp is 
better than the pencilled initials of the ballot clerk (as in S. 
Australia). 

2. The numbered counterfoil system requires a few words. 
It is now in use in Great Britain, Ontario, W. Australia, and, 
in a simpler form, in Victoria. Its principal purpose is of course 
to be able to identify the ballot of any voter afterwards proved 
to have voted illegally or to have been bribed, and to discard 
his vote with certainty, saving, perhaps, the need of a new elec- 
tion. It is cumbrous, however, and tends to create errors, and 
the testimony in England, in 1876, was that its advantage was 
not great. The plan (in use in Queensland and New Zealand) 
of folding and gumming a corner of the ballot marked with the 
elector's number, is tedious and not satisfactory. It is a ques- 
tion whether, considering all things, the object is important 
enough to require these precautions. 

3. To prevent what has been known as the " Tasmanian 
dodge," an ingenious device was adopted in Quebec (see Part 
VIII. G.), and subsequently by the Dominion Parliament, which 
checkmates what has often been supposed to be theoretically, if 
not practically, possible. The "Tasmanian dodge" (which 
appeared in Australia once only, in 1868, where it was imme- 
diately detected, and has apparently not been attempted in 
England), consists in sending in a voter who manages to deposit 
a counterfeit ballot (or empty envelope, if an envelope is re- 
quired, as it should not be) and to bring out his own genuine 
one ; which is then marked in ink by the local manager without, 
and given to another henchman, who in turn brings out a fresh 
ballot, and the process is repeated. In Quebec the election 
officer as he gives out the ballot, places on the back of a coun- 
terfoil or "annex" the voter's registered number; and when 



NOTES. 61 

the voter returns with the ballot marked, it is easy to see by 
comparing the number on the back of the "annex" with the 
registered number of the person presenting it, whether it is the 
same person to whom the ballot was delivered. The annex is 
then torn off and destroyed, and, while entire secrecy of voting 
is preserved, the Tasmanian dodge is effectually prevented, even 
in theoiy. This device merits a wider adoption. 

Note 8. 

Assistance to Illiterates and to others. 

(Mass., § 25 ; S. Austr., § 58, VII.; Queens., § 73 ; Gt. Brit., B, § 26 ; Belg., 
§ 123; Ky., § 10; N. Y., § 25.) 

Assistance is allowed to illiterate electors in Great Britain, 
New York and Massachusetts, as well as in New Zealand, Can- 
ada, and Italy (Part VIII.) . Where a reading and writing qualifi- 
cation does not exist, there can be no doubt that this is eminently 
just, and that if illiterates are to be disfranchised (as they should 
be) it may be done in a more straightforward wa} T . Under the 
New York and Massachusetts laws the illiterate may select one 
of the election officers to assist him. It would seem that the 
presence of two officers, if possible, should be required ; for as 
was found in England, attempts may be made to carry out bar- 
gains by pleading illiteracy and proving to the officer of the 
voter's party that the bargain is kept. Moreover, intimidation 
or fraud may occur if only one officer is present. It is better 
that in ever}* case one officer of each party represented should 
be at hand. The publicity is no objection, for the voter's party 
is even more easiby ascertained from his choice (if he is given it) 
of a single officer to assist him. In England, in 187G, 1 many 
retui'ning officers wished the privilege of receiving assistance to 
be withdrawn, as subject to abuse, and the Committee so recom- 
mended ; but it would seem that the objection of the officials 
arose largely from the cumbrous English provisions for reading 
and signing a long declaration of illiterac}*. The verbal one 
permitted b}- the acts of this country seems sufficient. But a 
record should be kept, as it is in Great Britain, Belgium, and 
Kentucky, of all ballots marked with the assistance of the 
officers, whether for illiteracy, blindness, or any other cause. 

1 Pari. Papers, 1876, vol. xii. 



62 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

Note 9. 

Mode of Expressing the Vote. 

(Mass., § 23 ; S Austr., § 58, VI. ; Queens., § 73; Gt. Brit., A, § 2, B, § 25 
C. " Form of Directions for Voters ; " Belg., A, § 124, B, § 1 ; Ky., § 9 ; 
N. Y., § 22.) 

Although this is one of the most interesting portions of the 
sj'stem, very little can be here said which will not suggest itself 
to those who examine the provisions of the different statutes. 
The two rival methods are that of striking out names not voted 
for, and that of marking a cross for the preferred candidates. 
The weak point (relatively) of the former is its tediousness, and of 
the latter is the opportunity offered for making the mark in other 
than the exact place and mode. Various plans are used for reduc- 
ing this opportunity to a minimum. The best theoretical method 
is the Belgian, which leaves a small white spot for the voter to 
blacken ; or perhaps the black ballot (proposed by Mr. Pearson 
of Stockport, Eng.) having white squares for the voter's mark. 1 
Probably the best practical plan is that of the Dominion statute, 
all left-hand margin being discarded, and the upright line at the 
right being omitted. But it may be asserted that there is no 
real difficulty in the method, so far as ascertaining the elector's 
desire (which is the fundamental object of election proceedings) 
is concerned. The difficulties, if any, which have occurred with 
respect to this method of marking, have arisen, in the great 
majority of cases, solely from the provision in the British and 
Canadian statutes making void a ballot which contains "any 
mark by which the voter may afterwards be identified," which, 
in the hands of a few returning officers and many of the courts 
(especially in Scotland and in Canada) 2 has been applied in an 
unpractical and over-suspicious manner. It would be better to 
consider solely "the voter's intention (which, as the testimony 
cited in the Introduction shows, seldom causes much difficulty), 
and to leave the question of collusion to be otherwise deter- 
mined ; perhaps, as a compromise measure, putting the burden 

1 Pari. Papers, 1876, vol. xii., app. to Report. 

2 The editor has already collected most of the material for an annotated 
edition, to be published before the fall elections, of the provisions common 
to the various statutes, including references to the decisions of the last thirty 
years in Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. 



NOTES. 63 

on one who charges at the counting that a peculiar mark has 
been corruptly used, or, better still, as in the New York Act, 
imposing a penalty on one who marks collusively, but not plac- 
ing upon the election officers the duty of entertaining the ques- 
tion, or allowing it to be raised at the counting of the votes. 
The construction of the ballots should continue to be governed 
b} T the present plain principle of election law that the voter's 
intention, whenever it clearly appears, should be given effect. 



Note 10. 
What Ballots shall not be Counted. 

(Mass., § 26; S. Austr., § 64; Queens., § 76; Gt. Brit., A, § 2; Belg., 
§§ 124, 127 ; Ky., § 11 ; N. Y., §§ 13, 28.) 

To the ordinary causes of rejection applicable to all ballots 
(e. g. that the vote is uncertain, because it is illegible or because 
too many names are voted for), it would seem that the present 
system should properly add but one cause peculiar to itself, — 
failure of the ballot to bear proof that it was lawfully received 
from and deposited with the officials of the election. In some 
statutes the absence of prima facie proof of this sort, in other 
words, the want of the official identifying mark, whatever it may 
be, justifies the rejection of the ballot (New York, ubi supra). 
In other statutes regard is paid to the actual, not merely the 
prima facie genuineness of the ballot ; as in Massachusetts, 
where " none but the ballots provided in accordance with the 
provisions of this act shall be counted," that is (probably, 
though not clearh'), all ballots actually provided b3' the Secre- 
tary, and actually received by the elector from the ballot clerk, 
must be counted. Between the two princples a choice must be 
made. The former, b}^ fixing a definite test, gains in decisive- 
ness and speed ; the latter has the advantage of occasionally 
saving an honest vote from rejection. 

The only other cause for rejection commonVy sanctioned is the 
use of a collusive mark. As to the advisability of this provision 
an opinion has been already expressed (Note 9). It is not 
adopted in either the Kentucky, New York, or Massachusetts 
statutes. 



64 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

Note 11. 

Responsibility of Officials for Neglect of Duty. 

(Mass., § 30 ; S. Austr., § 85 ; Queens., § 120 ; Gt. Brit., § 11 ; N. Y. § 31.) 

That a general clause imposing a penalty upon an officer 
neglecting any duty placed upon hini by the statute should be 
included therein seems unquestionable. Whether any provision 
should be made for abrogating or modifying the officer's respon- 
sibility in damages to one injured by his failure to perform the 
duty is a matter for some consideration. It seems that the 
duties of stamping the ballot, delivering it, receiving it, etc., are 
ministerial only (Pickering v. James, L. R. 8. C. P. 489 ; 55 
L. T. 135; 11 Cent. L. J. 141), and that an officer is therefore 
at common law liable for any loss incurred through his failure, 
whether wilful or inadvertent, to perform such a duty. Pro- 
vision, then, ought to be made for fixing a pecuniary limit to 
the civil liability of an officer, so that the maximum extent of 
his responsibility in case of loss might be known beforehand to 
himself and to all others concerned. To leave in force the com- 
mon-law rule of indefinite responsibility, where the compensation 
of the position is comparatively a mere bagatelle, would be 
unjust, and would deter desirable men from accepting the duties. 
But care should be taken, in such a case, to make it clear 
(See Brett, J. in Pickering v. James, supra) that the statutory 
provision entirely supersedes the common law liability. 



Note 12. 

Informalities. 

(S. Austr., § 71 ; Queens., § 85 ; Gt. Brit., A, § 13 ; Ky., § 26.) 

It is perhaps advisable to insert a clause curing all informal- 
ities which do not affect the merits of the contest. This, how- 
ever, would be extremely difficult to phrase properly, and had 
better be omitted than poorly done. The English provision has 
been more difficult to construe than it should have been, and is 
hardly a good model for a provision of similar purpose. 



NOTES. 65 

Note 13. 

Objections to Nominations. 

(Mass., § 7; Gt. Brit., B, § 13, D, § 3.) 

In order to avoid the possibilit}* of causing a new election 
upon trifling grounds, it is a great advantage to settle finally all 
questions relating to nominations before the election takes place. 
For this purpose a time and place are prescribed in the above 
statutes for making and hearing objections to the legality of 
nominations. The decisions of the tribunal are in Massachusetts 
final, in Great Britain are final only where an objection is held 
invalid. The former provision would perhaps in some places 
confer a dangerous power on an extra-judicial body. 

Neither of the above statutes contains the very desirable pro- 
viso that, in case of the rejection of a nomination for non-fulfil- 
ment of the statutory requirements, if the defect is within a cer- 
tain limited time repaired, the nomination may be again filed 
and shall then be treated as valid. 1 

Note 14. 

Method of RecJconing Time. 

(S. Austr., § 101 ; Gt. Brit., B, § 56 ; Ky., § 2.) 

Framers of future statutes should not omit to declare whether 
Sundays are to be included in the computation of the periods 
for filing nominations, etc. ; nor to make it entirely clear to 
what point the reckoner is carried by such provisions as " five 
days before the day of," or " five days at least before the day 
of" this or that event. 

Note 15. 

Deposit or Security from Candidates. 

(Queens., §§ 49, 55; Gt. Brit., E ; Ky., § 2.) 

In Australia the object of the deposit — to discourage reckless 
candidacies — has already been commented on (Note 2.) In 

1 See the New York bill of 1889, Appendix I. 
5 



66 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

Great Britain, Canada, and Kentucky, it is a method of distribut- 
ing the expense among the candidates. In this aspect it ought 
not to commend itself to those who are trying to escape from the 
evils of a machine corruption which rests largely on a similar 
sj'stem of assessments upon candidates. The cases are not en- 
tirely parallel, but the assessment of candidates, whether by the 
State or by a political committee, has many identical evils which 
will easily suggest themselves. We ought, moreover, to remem- 
ber that in the Dominion elections the whole number of parlia- 
mentary candidates is seldom half a dozen, and the amount 
assessed being only $50 each, the sum collected is not intended 
to reimburse the election expenses of the district ; while in Eng- 
land, where the security required from the candidates is much 
larger, the requirement is simply a part of the traditional sj'S- 
tem ; the returning officer is personally liable for the expenses, 
and is not unlike an officially-appointed agent of the candidates, 
entitled to demand security in advance. In our own country, 
on the contrary, we have always recognized that, so far as the 
State takes electoral machinery into its own hands, to that ex- 
tent it should undertake the expenses. In other words, the plan 
of imposing election expenses by law upon candidates proceeds 
upon the entirely false theory that it is the individual candidates, 
and not the people, for whose interests and needs the election 
was instituted. That this principle already finds support among 
a certain sordid few, to whom, as a recent writer has said, place- 
hunting is a career, makes it none the less unfortunate that it 
should be sanctioned in legislation. But upon whatever prin- 
ciple or theory the assessment of candidates may rest, perhaps 
the best reason for refusing to adopt it is, as has been said, that 
it savors too much of the very system of party assessments that 
we are now endeavoring to sweep away. 



Note 16. 

Space for Additional Names on Hallot. 

(Mass., § 10; N. Y., § 13; Ky., § 9.) 

A provision requiring space to be left, in the case of each 
office, for any additional name (or for as many as there are 
vacancies to be filled) that the elector may choose to insert, 



NOTES. 67 

is essential to the complete theoretical fairness of the system ; 
and the ballot can be arranged, 1 without inconvenience, so 
as to permit this. 

Note 17. 

Withdrawals. 

(Mass., § 8; S. Austr., § 54 ; Gt. Brit., A, § 1, D, § 1 (7) ; N. Y., § 11.) 

Ill none of the above statutes has a clause been inserted to 
provide against an important contingenc}', — the corrupt with- 
drawal of a candidate, in collusion with the opposite party or 
candidate. Without some such provision this becomes a vulner- 
able point in the system. Opportunities will frequently exist, 
with respect to candidates for many of the less prominent offices, 
at the last moment to make a " deal," to apply pressure, or even 
to purchase outright ; and thus, with their candidate withdrawn 
and the time for nominations expired, the party or the section of 
electors is defeated even without an election. 

This possibility may be easily obviated b} r allowing a dajr or 
two (after the expiration of the period for withdrawing) within 
which to substitute another candidate. 

1 See the model at the end of the book. 



II. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 



ELECTORAL ACT, 1879 (42, 43 Vict., No. 141). 



[PRELIMINARY (Sects. 1-4).] 

[Paet I. — Appointment of Officers, and 
Registration (Sects. 5-45).] 



Part II. — Conduct of Elections (Sects. 46-71). 

46, 47. (Form of election-writ ; the polling day to be 

not less than two and not more than thirty clays from the 

Mass., §6; day of nomination.) (a) 

49 U ; eeD 48. In order that any person may become or be a can- 

u,'D*'§ B i(3)f' didate at any election, he shall be nominated by not less 

]| e ! s ''A 105 ' tnan two persons (5) entitled to vote at such election, in 

N. y., § 8. manner following, that is to say, after the issue of the 

(*) writ and before the time fixed for the nomination, there 

Queens., §49; shall be delivered to the returning officer (c) a nomination 

Beig., 1 §§ 106, ' paper, in the form, or to the effect of the form in the Tenth 

Kv.'§2- Schedule hereto, naming such person as a candidate at 

N t - '! 5; 53 d sucn election, and signed by the persons nominating as 

aforesaid, and having at the foot thereof a statement, un- 
(c) . 

Mass. § 6; der the hand of the person so nominated, that he consents 

Queens., §49; .„ , ., ,. 

Gt. Br., b, § 8, to act it elected, (c ) 

Bei|.,§ 106; 49. (Publication by Returning Officer of dates of nom- 

N 7 Y §'4 ination and election and of polling-places.) 

.,. 50. The Returning Officer shall at noon, on the day of 

Beig., § 107; nomination, attend at the chief polling-place, and there 

and Note 3 r or ' 

p. 54. publicly produce the several nomination papers he shall 



SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 69 

have then received, and give notice (d) of the names of (rf) 

the persons nominated. 15* SS "' U ' 

51. In case there shall be no greater number of candi- ^ eens -> §§ 50 > 
dates duly nominated than are required to be elected, the SK^--*; 8 ' ^ 9 ' 
Returning Officer shall declare such candidate or candi- Belg.. § 112 ; 
dates to be elected, and make his return accordingly. n. y., § 10. 

52. In case more such candidates shall be duly nomi- 
nated, the Returning Officer shall give notice thereof (cT), 
of the names of the candidates, and of the day and time of 
taking the poll. 

53. (Polling-booths to be provided, and poll-clerks and 
doorkeepers to be appointed.) 

54. Each polling-booth shall have separate compart- 
ments (e), and shall be provided with a ballot-box having ( e ) 

an inner cover, with a cleft therein, for receiving the vot- Queens., § 59; 
ing papers, and a lock and key, and an outer cover with a Bei^' 5 lit- 16 ' 
lock and key; and the said compartments shall be con-K.Y->§ 8 ; 
structed so as to screen any voter therein from observa- and Note 5, 
tion, and shall be furnished with pencils for the use of 
voters. 

55. The Returning Officer shall cause voting papers to 
be printed which shall contain the Christian and surnames 

of the several candidates arranged (/) in alphabetical (/) 
order according to such surnames; and if there are two Q^ensf, §58; 
candidates of the same surname, then according to the ^% B 1 r, ( ' ? , .§ 22 » 
Christian name of such candidates ; and if there are two Belg., §§ 114, 
candidates of the same Christian name and surname, then Ky., §4; 

t i -i r 1 ti ± , N.Y.. §14; and 

according to the residences ot such candidates, arranged note 4, p. 58. 
in the like order, and a square printed opposite the name 
of each candidate, and he shall obtain a sufficient num- 
ber (#) of voting papers. (9) 

56. Before the hour of polling the Returning Officer Queen.^, § 58 ; 
shall deliver to the substitutes at each polling-booth a list ^fy. §'i6 5 
of the electors on the said roll who have been registered in f ra i § 56 - 
for six months, and who claim to vote at such polling- 
booth, herein called " list of voters," together with a copy 

or copies of the roll in force for the division or district, as 
the case may be, for use at the said polling, and shall sign 



70 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

each page of such list ; and shall also deliver to each sub- 
stitute, and himself retain such numbers respectively of 
(h) the voting-papers as shall be sufficient (A) for the use of 

note (g)l an *' the electors at such booth. 

57. Before delivering the voting papers to the electors, 
(*) each Returning Officer, or his substitute, shall initial (z) 

Queen's., §7i; such papers on the face thereof, and fold them, and keep 
B § 24- A ' ^ 2 ' an exact account of all initialled voting papers. 
Brfg-i §§ 123 , 58. On the day of election the poll shall be taken at 
Ky., §§ 4, 7; the several polling-places according to the following regu- 

N. Y., § 21; . r & r o » o 

and Note 7, latioilS : 

I. (Hours of opening ; care of the ballot-box.) 
II. (Hours of closing.) 
III. Every person proposing to vote shall state to the 
presiding officer, or to some one of his clerks, his Christian 
name and surname, and if so required any other of the 
particulars, necessary to be expressed in the roll, which 
the said officer may require for the sole purpose of ena- 
bling him to ascertain the name upon the roll intended by 
such person. 

(j) IV. The presiding officer or voting clerk (?) shall as- 

Mass. 5 22- 
Queen's., § 7i; certain if the name intended by the voter is upon the list 

Beig., r '|i23- ' of voters ; and if so found he shall, subject as hereafter 

n 5 y' V^i-and provided, deliver to such voter a voting paper bearing the 

Note 6, p. 59. initials of the Returning Officer, or his substitute, and 

shall place a mark against the voter's name on the list of 

voters. 

V. If a person representing himself to be a particular 
elector named on the roll applies for a voting paper after 
another person has voted as such elector, the applicant 
shall, upon duly answering the questions in the Eleventh 
Schedule, be entitled to receive a voting paper in the same 
manner as any other voter. 

VI. The voter shall forthwith retire alone to some un- 
occupied compartment of the said booth, and shall there 
m private, and without delay, indicate the name of each 

(£) candidate for whom he intends to. vote by (k~) making a 

Mass. 6 23* ' . . 

Queens., § 73; cross, the centre of which cross shall be contained within 



SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 71 

the square opposite the name of such candidate, and shall Gt. Br., A, § 2, 
then fold the voting paper, and immediately deliver it so "Form' of' 
folded to the presiding officer, who shall openly forthwith, vS • » S f ° r 
and without unfolding the same, deposit it in the ballot- ^ e, s i ' A »§ 124 ' 
box ; and the voter shall then quit the polling-booth. Ky, § 9; 

»,.,.„, N.Y., §22; and 

VII. Any voter may signify to the presiding officer that Note 9, p. 62. 
by reason of blindness (7) he is unable to comply with the (I) 

last preceding regulation; and thereupon the presiding Queens?, § 73 : 
officer, if satisfied that such voter is afflicted with blind- Bei^fi^lf' 
ness, shall permit any agent named by such voter to ac- ^y- § i° ; 
company him into the compartment set apart for the a " dNoT E8, 
purpose, to mark the voting paper on such voter's behalf, 
and hand the same to the Returning Officer, who shall 
deposit the same in the ballot-box. 

VIII. Any person who, by mistake or accident, shall 
spoil (m) any voting paper, may, before the same shall (m) 

have been deposited in the ballot-box, upon signifying G* 8 Br.,'B > §28; 
the same to the Returning Officer and delivering up the §^}f '§ |* 25 ' 
spoiled voting paper, obtain a fresh voting paper ; and the N - *■> § 24 - 
spoiled voting paper shall be then and there destroyed by 
burning the same. 

IX. (Provision for closing and sealing the ballot-box.) 

59. The Returning Officer (or his substitute), the poll 
clerks, and doorkeepers and scrutineers (not exceeding 
two for each candidate, to be appointed in writing), and 
electors about to vote, shall alone (w) be permitted at any ( n ) 

one time, without the consent of the Returning Officer or Queens; §^9; 
his substitute, to enter or remain in the polling-booth ™ t ', Br, ' R B n 'J 2l; 

*■ ° Belg., § 9/ ; 

during the taking of the poll. £y. § i7; 

& & ^ N.Y., §20; and 

60. (Questions to voters as to qualifications, etc.) Note1, p . 52. 

61. If the person so proposing to vote shall refuse to 
answer any question or shall answer the same in such 
manner as to show that he is not qualified to vote, he shall 
not be permitted to vote, and he shall forthwith return to 
the presiding officer the voting paper, if any, delivered to 
him, and which paper shall thereupon be immediately de- 
stroyed by the said presiding officer. 



72 



AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 



62. (Ballot-boxes to be delivered to the respective Re- 
turning Officers.) 

63. All voting papers issued to any substitute, and not 
used by him, and all lists of voters, shall be returned by 
him to the Returning Officer, with the ballot-box. 

64. (Proceedings relative to the counting of the voting 
papers.) 

(o) . . . The Returning Officer shall reject (o) all voting 

Oueens 5 ?76 ■ P a P ers llot initialled, or which shall contain crosses against 
Gt.Br., A, §2; t,} ie nam es of a larger number of candidates than are re- 

Belg., §§ 12i, . . , 

147'; quired to be elected, or shall contain anything marked or 

n 7 y., §§i3, written other than the initials of the Returning Officer or 
io,' p. n 63. NT ° TE nis substitute and the cross indicating the name of such 
candidate for whom the elector intends to vote. . . . 

67. The Returning Officer of the district shall send to 
the Returning Officer of the province, a return, in a tabu- 
lar form, of the number of electors on the roll, the number 
of voting papers found in the ballot-boxes, the number of 
voting papers allowed, the number of voting papers re- 
jected, distinguishing the number, 1st, not initialled by 
the Returning Officer or his substitute ; 2d, voting for 
more candidates than entitled to be elected ; 3d, contain- 
ing writing or marks by which the voter can be identified ; 
4th, unmarked or informally marked voting papers. 
( P ) 71. No election shall be held to be void (p) in conse- 

Gt.Br! A.f§ 8 i3: quence solely of . . . any error on the part of any Return- 
Note § 12 6; a 64 d i n » Officer or deputy, which shall not affect the result of 
the election, or of any error or impediment of a mere 
formal nature. . . . 



Part III. — Offences and Penalties (Sects. 72-86). 

72. Every person who — 

I. Forges or fraudulently defaces or fraudulently de- 
stroys any nomination paper, or delivers to the Returning 
Officer any nomination paper, knowing the same to be 
forged ; or 

If. Forges or counterfeits or fraudulently defaces, or 



SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 73 

fraudulently destroys any voting paper or the initials on 
any voting paper ; or 

III. Without due authority supplies any voting paper 
to any person ; or 

IV. Fraudulently puts into any ballot-box any paper 
other than the voting paper which he is authorized by law 
to put in ; or 

V. Fraudulently takes out of the polling-booth any 
voting paper ; or 

VI. Without due authority destroys, takes, opens, or 
otherwise interferes with any ballot-box or voting papers 
then in use for the purposes of the election ; or 

VII. Refuses to deliver to the Returning Officer or his 
substitute any voting paper in his possession, whether he 
shall have obtained such voting paper for the purpose of 
recording his vote or not, — 

Shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable, if he is 
a Returning Officer, or an officer or clerk in attendance at 
a polling-booth, to imprisonment for any term not exceed- 
ing two years, with or without hard labor ; and, if he is 
any other person, to imprisonment for any term not ex- 
ceeding six months, with or without hard labor ; and any 
attempt to commit any offence specified in this section 
shall be punishable in the manner in which the offence 
itself is punishable. 

73. In any indictment or other prosecution for an of- 
fence in relation to the nomination papers, ballot-boxes, 
and voting papers at an election, the property in such 
papers and boxes may be stated to be in the Returning 
Officer at such election. 

85. If any Returning Officer for the said province, or 
any District Returning Officer, after having accepted office 
as such, shall neglect or refuse to perform (<?) any of the (?) 
duties which by the provisions hereof he is required to Queen's., § 120; 
perform, every such Returning Officer or District Return- jj!'?!^!; 115 
ing Officer shall, for every such offence, forfeit any sum and Note 11, 
not less than Ten nor exceeding Two Hundred Pounds, 
aud in like manner if any substitute, clerk, or other officer 



74 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

or person appointed or required to perform any duty, un- 
der or by virtue of this act, shall neglect or refuse to per- 
form Qq) any of the duties which by the provisions hereof 
he is required to perform, every such clerk or other officer 
or person shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay any 
sum not less than Five and not exceeding Fifty Pounds. 

[Part IV. — Court for the trial of Disputed 
Returns (Sects. 87-100).] 



Part V. — General Matters (Sects. 101-106). 

101. When any matter or thing is hereby directed to be 
performed on a certain day, and that day shall happen to 
be a Sunday, Good Friday, Christmas Day, or other pub- 
lic holiday, the said matter or thing may be performed on 
Gt.Br., b,§56; the next succeeding day, not being any of the days afore- 

Ky., § 2; and . , , N 

Note 14, p. 65. Said (r). 



III. QUEENSLAND. 



Elections Act, 1885 (49 Vict. No. 13). 



[Part I. - Definitions and preliminary matter 
[Part II. 
[Part III. 



(Sects. 1-5).] 

Qualifications of electors (Sects. 
6-8).j 

Registration (Sects. 9-43).] 



Part IV. — Election writs and officers; nomina- 
tions AND CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS (SECTS. 

44-78.) 
Election Officers (Sects. 44-46). 

45. Every person appointed a returning officer, presid- 
ing officer, or poll clerk under this Act, shall before he 
enters on the duties of such office, make and subscribe a 
solemn declaration before some justice in the following 
form : — 

I, A. B., do hereby declare that I accept the office of Return- 
ing Officer [or Presiding Officer at , or Poll Clerk, as the case 
may be~] for the Electoral District of , and I hereby promise 
and declare that I will faithfully perform the duties of im- office 
to the best of my understanding and ability, and that I will not 
attempt to improperly ascertain or discover, or by an}' word or 
action directly or indirectly aid in discovering the person for 
whom an }' vote is given. And that I will keep secret all knowl- 
edge of the person for whom any elector has voted which I ma} r 



76 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

obtain in the exercise of my office, unless in answer to any ques- 
tion which I am legally bound to answer. 

A. B. 
Declared before me this ) 
day of , 18 . j 

C. D , J. P. 

And such justice shall transmit the declaration so 
made by the first convenient opportunity to the Colonial 
Secretary. 

Writs (Sects. 47, 48). 
48. The returning officer shall endorse upon the writ 
so directed to him the day on which he receives it, and 
shall forthwith give public notice of the day and place of 
nomination, and of the day of polling mentioned in the 
writ, and of the several polling-places, and of a convenient 
house or place within the electoral district, to be named 
by the returning officer, as the place of nomination at 
which he will be present between the hours of four and six 
o'clock after noon on the day preceding the day of nomi- 
nation for the purpose of receiving the nomination papers 
of candidates, and shall also as soon as possible give public 
{?) ,. . . notice of any polling-place appointed after the issue of the 

note (c). writ. 

Mass., § 4; Provided that a nomination paper may be received by 

g^b^aVi- tne return i n g officer at any time or place before the said 

Belg., §§ 10G, l 10ur f f our o'clock («). 
Kv.' § 2; 

n. y., §5; and Nominations (Sects. 49-55). 

Note 2, p. 53. v - 

(d) 49. In order that any person may be or become a candi- 
Mast.,§ 6- date at an election, he shall be nominated by not less than 
GtBr^B §§4' s i x persons (6) entitled to vote at such election, in manner 
Bei D ' i 105^' f°^ ow i n o5 that is to say, before six o'clock after noon of 
Ky-> § 2; the day preceding the day of nomination named in the 

N. Y., § 8. L . 

( e ) writ (<i), there shall be delivered to the returning officer 
S^Austf 6 ^ 48- (0' wno shall if required give a receipt for the same, a 
d% B i'hv § 8 > nomination-paper naming such person as a candidate at 
Belg., § 106; such election and signed by the persons nominating him in 

Ky., §2; & J r o 

N". Y. § 4. the following form : — 



QUEENSLAND. 77 

We, the undersigned electors of the Electoral District of , 
do hereby nominate [state Christian name and surname] of 
[state residence and occupation] for the office of member of 
the Legislative Assembly for the said district in pursuance of a 
writ of election issued the day of 18 . 

Dated this day of , 18 . 

[Here are to follow the signatures.] 

And such person or some person in his behalf shall, at 
the time of delivery of such nomination-paper, pay (/) to (/) 
the returning officer in sterling money or bank notes the of. Br ^E;' 
sum of twenty pounds, to be dealt with as hereinafter pro- notk 15' pais, 
vided ; and no person who is not so nominated, or by or for 
whom or on whose behalf such payment is not made, shall 
be or be deemed to be, a candidate at the election. 

50. Immediately on the receipt of a nomination-paper it 
shall be the duty of the returning officer to post (g~) a copy (g) 
thereof outside the nearest police office, or if there is no n ote(h)'. " ' 
police office at the place of nomination, then in some con- 
spicuous place there. 

51. (Uncertificated insolvent incapable of nomination or 
election.) 

52. If the number of persons who are duly nominated 
as candidates at any election does not exceed the number 
of members to be elected, the returning officer shall, at 
noon on the day of nomination at the place named as 
aforesaid for the delivery of the nomination papers, pub- 
licly declare such candidates to be duly elected, and make 
his return accordingly. 

53. If the number of persons who are duly nominated 
as candidates at any election exceeds the number of mem- 
bers to be elected, then for deciding between such candi- 
dates a poll shall take place on the day named in the writ 
for that purpose at the several polling places for the dis- 
trict, and the returning officer shall, at noon on the day 
and at the place named as aforesaid for the delivery of the 
nomination-papers, publicly announce (li) the names of the 00 

■t 1 • -i a i Mass., §§ 14, 

persons who have been duly nominated as candidates, and 15; 
that a poll will be so taken, and shall also forthwith pub- ' ustl ' § 



i a AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

Gt. Br., b, § 9, lish (Ji) the like announcement in some newspaper pub- 
Beig., § U2; lished in the district or, if none such is published, then in 
N^Y. §10. the newspaper published nearest to the district. 
,--, 54. If an j candidate is desirous of retiring (i) from his 

Mass., § s; candidature, he may, not later than two clear days after 

Gt. Br., A, § 1, J J J 

D , § i (7); the day of nomination, sign and deliver to the return- 
N. Y. § n. J . . 

ing officer a notice in the following form, or to the like 

effect : — 

To the Returning Officer of the Electoral District of 

I, A. B., do hereby retire from being a candidate for election 
for the Electoral District of at the ensuing election. 
Dated this clay of , 18 . 

(Signed) A.B. 

Witness C. D. 

The returning officer on the receipt of such notice shall 
omit the name of the person so retiring from the ballot 
papers to be used at the election, or, if any of such papers 
have been printed, shall erase his name therefrom. The 
person so retiring shall not be capable of being elected at 
the election. (Provision for declaring the remaining can- 
didates elected without a poll, as in § 52, in case their 
number does not exceed the number to be elected.) 

55. (Provision for returning to each candidate retiring, 
or declared elected without a poll, or receiving at least one 
fifth of the number of votes obtained by the successful 
candidate having the smallest number of votes, the sum 

/.■) advanced by him at the time of nomination (,/).) 

See § 49, ante, 
note (f). 

Poll (Sects. 55-78). 

56. For taking the poll at an election, the returning 
officer shall cause booths to be erected or rooms to be hired 
and used as such booths in one place at each polling-place 
as occasion may require. 

57. (Provision for appointment 03^ the returning officer 
of a presiding officer and one or more poll-clerks for each 
polling-place.) 



QUEENSLAND. 



79 



58. Forthwith after a poll stands appointed for any 
election, the returning officer shall cause to be printed or 
written ballot papers containing the candidates' names in 
alphabetical order, and nothing else, according to the fol- 
lowing form (/c) : — 



JOHN DOE. 

RICHARD ROE. 

JAMES SMITH. 

HENRY THOMPSON. 



(i) 

Mass., § 10; 
s. Austr., § 55; 
Gt. Br., B, § 22, 
D, §1 (6); 
Belg., §§ 114, 
115; 

Ky., § 4; 
N.Y., § 14; 
and Note 4, 
p. 55. 



and shall supply to the presiding officer of each polling- 
place so many of such ballot papers as shall be fully equal 
to the number of electors likely to vote at such polling- 
place (7), and shall keep for himself a like sufficient num- 
ber for the polling-place at which he is to preside. If two 
candidates have the same Christian name and surname, the 
residence and description of each candidate shall be added 
to his name on the ballot paper. 

59. At every booth or polling-place there shall be one 
or more compartment or compartments (w) provided with 
all necessary materials for the purpose of enabling the 
electors to mark the ballot papers as hereinafter provided, 
and in such booth or polling-place no person shall be 
entitled to be present (w) other than the presiding officer, 
the poll-clerk, the candidates, and the scrutineers of the 
several candidates to be appointed as hereinafter provided, 
and the electors who for the time are voting. 

The presiding officer or poll-clerk may summon to his 
assistance in such booth or polling-place any member of 
the police force for the purpose of preserving the public 
peace or preventing any breach thereof, and for removing 
out of such booth or polling-place any person who in his 
opinion is obstructing the polling or wilfully violating any 
of the provisions of this Act. 

60. (The presiding officer shall furnish a ballot-box, 
which shall be examined before the balloting begins.) 



(0 

Mass., § 12; 
S Austr., § 5G; 
Kv., § 3; 
N*. Y. § 16. 



(m) 

M^ss., §21; 
S. Austr., § 54; 
Gt.Br.,B,§ 16; 
Belg., § 118; 
Kv.. § 8; 
N' V.. § 20; 
and Note 5, 
p. 58. 

(«) 

Mass., § 21 ■ 
S. Austr., §59; 
Gt. Br., li.; 21; 
Belg., § 97; 
Ky., §17; 
N. Y., § 20; 
and Note 1, 
p. 52. 



80 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

61. (The polls are to open at 8 o'clock and close at 4 
o'clock, except under certain circumstances.) 

62. (Provision in detail for the appointment and quali- 
fication of candidates' scrutineers for each polling-place.) 

63-70. (Interrogations and oaths as to qualifications, 
etc., for persons claiming to be entitled to vote.) 

71. When an elector has satisfied the presiding officer 
that he is entitled to vote at the election, the presiding 

(o) officer (o) shall deliver to him a ballot paper. Before 

Mass. § 22 1 

s. Aiistr., § ? 58, delivery of the ballot paper to the elector the presiding 
Gt.Br., b,§50; officer shall mark (p) the same on the face thereof with 
Kv g sV- 23 ' n * s initials in ink or pencil, and shall also write Qp) upon 
N"y., §21; the back of the left-hand upper corner of the ballot paper 

and Note 6, . L L . i l 

p. 59. in ink or pencil the number set against the name of the 

& c ,. elector in the electoral roll. 

Mass., § 10; 

s. Austr., §57; The presiding officer shall then, and before delivery of 
b.,§24; ' ' the ballot paper to the elector, fold down (p) the corner 
lsif ' ' of the paper so as to entirely conceal the number so writ- 

n 7 y^ f^i- * en ' anc ^ sna, ii securely fasten the fold with gum or other- 
and Note 7, wi&e in such a manner that the number cannot be discovered 

p. 59. 

without unfastening the fold. 

72. Upon delivery of the ballot paper to the elector, the 
presiding officer or poll-clerk shall, upon the copy of the 
electoral roll in use by him, or, in the case of a presiding 
officer other than the returning officer, upon the certified 
copy of the roll supplied to him by the returning officer, 
make a mark against the name of the elector. The mark 
so made on the roll shall be prima facie evidence of the 
identity of the person to whom the ballot paper is de- 
livered with the elector whose name is so marked on the 
roll, and of the fact that such elector voted at that election. 

The number marked upon the back of the ballot paper 
shall, upon a scrutiny, be conclusive evidence that such 
ballot-paper was delivered to and used by the person who 
claimed to vote as the person against whose name such 
number is set in the electoral roll. 

73. The elector, having received a ballot paper, shall, in 
one of the compartments or ballot rooms provided for the 



QUEENSLAND. 81 

purpose, strike out (g) from his ballot paper the names of (?) 
such candidates as he does not intend to vote for, and shall s. Austr., § 58, 
make no other mark or writing thereon, and shall forthwith Gt.Br.,A., §2, 
fold up the paper in such manner as will conceal the names u'^fm S' 
of the candidates, and deposit it in the ballot-box in the directions for 

... . . voters" ; 

presence of the presiding officer. Provided that while an Beig., a,§ 124, 
elector is in a compartment preparing his ballot paper no kV., §9; 
other person shall be allowed in such compartment. Pro- an ' d note 9, 
vided, nevertheless, that in case any elector is unable to p-62- 
read, or is blind (r), he shall signify the fact to the pre- (>•) 
siding officer, who shall thereupon, in the booth or polling- s^Austr., §' 58, 
place, and in the presence and sight of the poll-clerks, GtBr. B §20- 
candidates, and scrutineers, strike out the names of the ^elg., § 123; 

ivy., $ 10: 

candidate or candidates other than the candidate or can- N. Y., § 25; 

and Note 8, 

didates for whom the elector says that he desires to p. 61. 
vote. 

No elector shall take out of the booth or polling-place 
any ballot paper either before or after the same has been 
so marked. 

Any elector wilfully infringing an} r of the provisions of 
this section, or obstructing the polling by any unnecessary 
delay in performing any act within the ballot room, shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor. 

74. (Provisions for disposing of second votes tendered 
on the same name.) 

75. An elector may vote for any number of candi- 
dates not exceeding the number of members then to be 
elected. 

76. Every ballot paper which (s) — (?) 

(1) Does not bear the initials of the presiding officer, s. Austr., §'64; 

Gt.Br.,A,§2; 

01 ' Belg., §§124, 

(2) Does not appear to have the elector's number j^v'sii- 

written upon the back of it by the presiding N - Y.,§§13, 

L J L ° 28; and Note 

officer as hereinbefore provided, or 10, p. 63. 

(3) Has such number torn off, or 

(4) Contains a greater number of names of candidates 

not struck out than the number of members to 
be elected, or 

6 



82 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

(5) Has upon it any mark or writing not by this Act 
authorized to be put thereon, 
shall be rejected at the close of the poll. 

77. (Provision for adjournment in case of a riot.) 

78. (Power given to the presiding officer to maintain 
order.) 

Part V. — Declaration of the Result, and Return 
of Writs of Election (Sects. 79-87). 

85. No election under this Act shall be liable to be 

(t) questioned (t) by reason of any defect in the title, or any 

Gt.Br S ,A,§i3; want of title, of any person by or before whom such 

angora 12 election is held, if such person really acted at such elec- 

P- 64 - tion, nor by reason of any formal error or defect in any 

declaration or other instrument, or in any publication 

made under this Act or intended to be so made, nor by 

reason of any such publication being out of time. 

87. All expenses which a returning officer necessarily 
incurs in and about an election under the provisions of 
this Act shall be defrayed out of such moneys as shall be 
appropriated by Parliament for that purpose. 

Part VI. — Corrupt and Illegal Practices 

(Sects. 88-110). 

95 . . . (2). Any person who, before or during an elec- 
tion, knowingly publishes a false statement of the with- 
drawal of a candidate at such election for the purpose of 
promoting or procuring the election of another candidate, 
shall be guilty of an illegal practice. 

99. Every person who corruptly induces or procures 
any other person to withdraw from being a candidate at an 
election, in consideration of any payment or promise of pay- 
ment, and every person who withdraws in pursuance of 
such inducement or procurement, shall be guilty of illegal 
payment. 

100. Every bill, placard, or poster having reference to 
an election shall bear upon the face thereof the name and 



QUEENSLAND. 83 

address of the printer and publisher thereof ; and every 
person who prints, publishes, or posts, or causes to be 
printed, published, or posted, any such bill, placard, or 
poster, as aforesaid, which fails to bear upon the face 
thereof the name and address of the printer and publisher, 
shall, if he is the candidate, or the agent of the candidate, 
be guilty of an illegal practice ; and if he is not the can- 
didate, or the agent of a candidate, shall be liable on 
summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred 
pounds. 

Part VII. — Supplemental Provisions (Sects. 111- 
126). 

116. Every person who intrudes into any booth or poll- 
ing-place, other than the presiding officer, poll-clerk, can- 
didates, scrutineers, and electors actually voting, shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor. 

120 . . . (2). Every justice, presiding officer, or other 
officer or person who wilfully neglects or refuses to per- 
form (u) any of the duties which by the provisions of this («) 
Act he is required to perform, shall for every such offence s. Austr., §85; 
forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding fifty pounds. N. Y.' § 31; ' 

121. Every presiding officer or other person who places a^NoTEii, 
or is privy to placing in a ballot-box a ballot paper which has 
not been lawfully handed to and marked by an elector shall 
be guilty of felony, and shall be liable on conviction to be 
kept in penal servitude for any period not exceeding seven 
years, and not less than two years, or to be imprisoned for 
any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard 
labor. Proof that a greater number of ballot papers is 
found in a ballot-box, or is returned by a presiding officer 
as having been received at a polling-place, than the num- 
ber of electors who voted at such polling-place, shall be 
prima facie evidence that the presiding officer at such 
polling-place was guilty of an offence against this section. 

124 (1). Every returning officer, presiding officer, poll- 
clerk, scrutineer, or other person who knowingly and wil- 
fully unfastens the fold upon a ballot paper within which 



84 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

the number of an elector is written, unless he is by the 
lawful command of some competent court or other tribunal 
required to do so ; and, — 

(2). Every returning officer, presiding officer, poll-clerk, 
or scrutineer who attempts to ascertain or discover, or di- 
rectly or indirectly aids in ascertaining or discovering, the 
person for whom any vote is given, except in the case of 
a person voting openly, or who, having in the exercise of 
his office obtained knowledge of the person for whom any 
elector has voted, discloses such knowledge, unless in an- 
swer to some question put in the course of proceedings 
before some competent court or other tribunal ; and, — 

(3). Every returning officer, presiding officer, poll-clerk, 
or scrutineer who places upon any ballot paper any mark 
or writing not authorized by this act, 

Shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction 
thereof shall be liable to imprisonment for any term not 
exceeding two years, with or without hard labor. 

[Part VIII. — Temporary Provisions (Sects. 127- 
131).] 



IV.— GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



A. Ballot Act, 1872. 

B. First Schedule. 

C. Second Schedule (including forms for nomination 

and ballot papers). 

D. Municipal Elections Act, 1875 (sect. 1, subs. 3, 6, 7). 

E. Parliamentary Elections {Returning Officers} Act, 

1875. 



A. 

Ballot Act, 1872 (35 and 36 Vict., c. 33). 

Part I. — Parliamentary Elections. 

Procedure at Elections. 

1. A candidate for election to serve in Parliament for a 
county or borough, shall be nominated in writing. The 
writing shall be subscribed by two registered electors of 
such county or borough as proposer and seconder, and by 
eight other registered electors of the same county or 
borough as assenting to the nomination (a), and shall be (a) 

-, rt ■• i • i JM3.SS-J § 4 J 

delivered during the time appointed for the election to the s.Austr., §48; 
returning officer by the candidate himself or his proposer Beig°§| iog,' 

j 155; 

or seconder. Ky .' § 2; 

If at the expiration of one hour after the time appointed jjj^'j 5; 53 d 
for the election, no more candidates stand nominated than 
there are vacancies to be filled up, the returning officer 
shall forthwith declare the candidates who may stand 
nominated to be elected, and return their names to the 
clerk of the crown in chancery ; but if at the expiration of 
such hour more candidates stand nominated than there are 



86 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

vacancies to be filled up, the returning officer shall adjourn 
the election and shall take a poll in manner in this Act 
mentioned. 
(b) A candidate may, during the time appointed for the 

Queens., §'54; election, but not afterwards, withdraw (6) from his candi- 
Gt Br ^dH l d ature DV giving a notice to that effect, signed by him, to 
(7), infra. the returning officer ; provided, that the proposer of a 
candidate nominated in his absence out of the United 
Kingdom, may withdraw such candidate by a written no- 
tice signed by him and delivered to the returning officer, 
together with a written declaration of such absence of the 
candidate. 

(Provision for proclaiming the election anew in case 
of the death of a candidate after nomination and before 
election.) 

2. In the case of a poll at an election the votes shall be 

given by ballot. The ballot of each voter shall consist of 

a paper (in this Act called a ballot paper) showing the 

names and description of the candidates. Each ballot 

( C ) paper shall have (c) a number printed on the back, and 

s. a Austr., §57; shall have attached a counterfoil with the same number 

BeiT^l 123 1 ' P rmt ed on the face. At the time of voting, the ballot 

Jl* 1 ' „,. , „ paper shall be marked on both sides with an official mark, 

Kv., §§ 4, 7; r L 

N"Y., §21; and delivered to the voter within the polling-station, and 
infra';' and ' the number of such voter on the register of voters shall be 
i ote , p. . mar ]j e( j on ti ie counterfoil, and the voter, having secretly 

( d) marked (e?) his vote on the paper, and folded it up so as 
S^Au'str.fVss, *° conceal his vote, shall place it in a closed box in the 
Q L 'ns §73- P res ence of the officer presiding at the polling-station (in 
Beig., a, § 124, this Act called " the presiding officer ") after having shown 
Ky., §9; to him the official mark at the back. 

Gt. Br.; b7§ 25, Any ballot paper which has not on its back the official 
Direct™ f or mark, or on which votes are given to more candidates than 
aMNoTE^" 1 ' tne voter i s entitled to vote for, or on which anything, 
p. 62. except the said number on the back, is written or marked, 

(e ) by which the voter can be identified, shall be void (e) and 

s Ia iui 26 § ; 64; not counted. 

Queens., §76; After the close of the poll the ballot-boxes shall be 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 87 

sealed np, so as to prevent the introduction of additional Beig., §§ 124, 
ballot papers, and shall be taken charge of by the return- & v .' § n ; 
ing officer, and that officer shall, in the presence of such N g- "and Note 
agents, if any, of the candidates as may be in attendance, 10 » P- 63 - 
open the ballot-boxes and ascertain the result of the poll 
by counting the votes given to each candidate, and shall 
forthwith declare to be elected the candidate or candidates 
to whom the majority of votes have been given, and return 
their names to the clerk of the crown in chancery. 

The decision of the returning officer as to any question 
arising in respect of any ballot paper shall be final, sub- 
ject to reversal on petition questioning the election or 
return (Y). (O See note 

(Provision for the casting of a vote by the returning ' 
officer only in case of a tie between two candidates.) 

Offences at Elections. 
3. Every person who — 

(1) Forges or fraudulently defaces or fraudu- 
lently destroys any nomination paper, or delivers to 
the returning officer any nomination paper, knowing 
the same to be forged ; or 

(2) Forges or counterfeits or fraudulently defaces 
or fraudulently destroys any ballot paper or the offi- 
cial mark on any ballot paper ; or 

(3) Without due authority supplies any ballot 
paper to any person ; or 

(4) Fraudulently puts into any ballot-box any 
paper other than the ballot paper which he is author- 
ized by law to put in ; or 

(5) Fraudulently takes out of the polling-station 
any ballot paper ; or 

(6) Without due authority destroys, takes, opens, 
or otherwise interferes with any ballot-box or packet 
of ballot papers then in use for the purposes of the 
election, 

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable, if he is a 
returning officer or an officer or clerk in attendance at a 



88 AUSTEALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

polling-station, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 
two years, with or without hard labor, and if he is any 
other person, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 
six months, with or without hard labor. 

Any attempt to commit any offence specified in this 
section shall be punishable in the manner in which the 
offence itself is punishable. 

In any indictment or other prosecution for an offence 
in relation to the nomination papers, ballot-boxes, ballot 
papers, and marking-instruments at an election, the prop- 
erty in such papers, boxes, and instruments may be stated 
to be in the returning officer at such election, as well as 
the property in the counterfoils. 

4. Every officer, clerk, and agent in attendance at a 
polling-station shall maintain, and aid in maintaining, the 
secrecy of the voting in such station, and shall not com- 
municate, except for some purpose authorized by law, 
before the poll is closed, to any person, any information 
as to the name or number on the register of voters of any 
elector who has or has not applied for a ballot paper or 
voted at that station, or as to the official mark ; and no 
such officer, clerk, or agent, and no person whosoever 
shall interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, a voter 
when marking his vote, or otherwise attempt to obtain 
in the polling-station information as to the candidate for 
whom any voter in such station is about to vote or has 
voted, or communicate at any time to any person any 
information obtained in a polling-station as to the can- 
didate for whom any voter in such station is about to vote 
or has voted, or as to the number on the back of the 
ballot paper given to any voter at such station. Every offi- 
cer, clerk, and agent in attendance at the counting of the 
votes shall maintain, and aid in maintaining, the secrecy 
of the voting, and shall not attempt to ascertain at such 
counting the number on the back of any ballot paper, or 
communicate any information obtained at such counting 
as to the candidate for whom any vote is given in any 
particular ballot paper. No person shall, directly or in- 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 89 

directly, induce any voter to display Lis ballot paper after 
he shall have marked the same, so as to make known to 
any person the name of the candidate for or against whom 
he has so marked his vote. 

Every person who acts in contravention of the provi- 
sions of this section shall be liable, on summary conviction 
before two justices of the peace, to imprisonment for any 
term not exceeding six months, with or without hard 
labor. 

5-7. (Division of counties and boroughs into polling- 
districts.) 

Duties of Election Officers. 

8. Subject to the provisions of this Act, every return- 
ing officer shall provide such nomination papers, polling- 
stations, ballot-boxes, ballot papers, stamping-instruments, 
copies of register of voters, and other things, appoint and 
pay such officers, and do such other acts and things as may 
be necessary for effectually conducting an election in man- 
ner provided by this Act. 

All expenses properly incurred by any returning officer 
in carrying into effect the provisions of this Act, in the 
case of any parliamentary election, shall be -payable in 
the same manner as expenses incurred in the erection of 
polling-booths at such election are by law payable. 

(The sheriff in some instances may act as returning 
officer.) 

9. (The presiding officer is empowered to keep order 
in the polling-station.) 

10. (Election officers are empowered to ask the ques- 
tions and administer the oaths authorized by law.) 

11. Every returning officer, presiding officer, and clerk 
who is guilty of any wilful misfeasance, or any wilful act 
or omission in contravention of this Act shall, in addition 

to any other penalty or liability to which he may be j/ a g S § 3 0; 
subject, forfeit to any person aggrieved by such mis- rw^ ''§\|q! 
feasance, act, or omission, a penal sum not exceeding one N". Y., § si: 

1 ° and Note 11, 

hundred pounds (/). p- 64. 



90 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

(No election officer shall act as election agent for any 
candidate.) 

Miscellaneous. 

12. (No person shall be required to disclose his vote.) 

13. No election shall be declared invalid by reason of 
a non-compliance with the rules contained in the first 
schedule to this Act, or any mistake in the use of the 
forms in the second schedule to this Act, if it appears to 
the tribunal having cognizance of the question that the 
election was conducted in accordance with the principles 
laid down in the body of this Act, and that such non- 
compliance or mistake did not affect the result of the 

(g) election (#). 

Queens. r ,'§85;' 14-20. (Miscellaneous provisions as to the construction 
an^NoTE ; i2 0I> other Acts, and the application of this Act to Ireland 
P- 64 - and Scotland.) 

Part II. — Municipal Elections. 
20-23. (Application of the Act to municipal elections.) 

Part III. — Personation. 

24-27. (Provisions relating to the offence of persona- 
tion.) 

Part IV. 

(Miscellaneous provisions relating to repeals, etc.) 



B. 

First Schedule. 

Part I. — Rules for Parliamentary Elections. 

Nominations. 

1. (Publication of notice of election.) 

2. The day of election shall be fixed by the returning officer 
as follows : that is to say, in the case of an election for a county 
or a district borough, not later than the ninth daj T after the clay 
on which he receives the writ, with an interval of not less than 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 91 

three clear da} T s between the day on which he gives the notice 
and the day of election ; and in the case of an election for any 
borough other than a district borough, not later than the fourth 
da}' after the day on which he receives the writ, with an interval 
of not less than two clear days between the day on which he 
gives the notice and the day of election. 

3. (Place of. holding the election.) 

4. The time appointed for the election shall be such two hours 
between the hours of 10 in the forenoon and 3 in the afternoon 

as may be appointed (A) by the returning officer, and the re- (h) 
turning officer shall attend during those two hours and for one frlfv §7(3) 
hour after. 'infra. 

5. Each candidate shall be nominated b}- a separate nomina- 
tion-paper, but the same electors or any of them may subscribe 
as many nomination-papers as there are vacancies to be filled, 
but no more. 

6. Each candidate shall be described in the nomination paper 
in such manner as in the opinion of the returning officer is cal- 
culated to sufficiently identify such candidate ; the description 
shall include his names, his abode, and his rank, profession, or 
calling, and his surname shall come first in the list of his names. 
No objection to a nomination paper on the ground of the de- 
scription of the candidate therein being insufficient, or not 
being in compliance with this rule, shall be allowed or deemed 
valid, unless such objection is made by the returning officer or 
by some other person at or immediately after the time of the 
delivery of the nomination paper. 

7. The returning officer shall supply a form of nomination 
paper to any registered elector requiring the same during such 
two hours as the returning officer may fix, between the hours 
of 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon on each day inter- 
vening between the day on which notice of the election was 
given and the day of election, and during the time appointed 
for the election ; but nothing in this Act shall render obligatory 
the use of a nomination paper supplied by the returning officer, 
so, however, that the paper be in the form prescribed by this 
Act. 

8. The nomination papers shall be delivered to the return- 
ing officer (i) at the place of election during the time appointed 0) 

° v ' l s L l Mass., § 6; 

for the election ; and the candidate nominated by each nomina- S. Austr., § 48 ; 



92 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

Queens., § 49; tion paper, and his proposer and seconder, and one other person 
Kyf, '§ 2; selected by the candidate, and no person other than aforesaid 

Gt Br ^d' § l sna ^> exce pt for the purpose of assisting the returning officer, be 
(3), infra. entitled to attend the proceedings during the time appointed for 
the election. 

9. If the election is contested, the returning officer shall, as 
soon as practicable after adjourning the election, give public 

(/) notice (j) of the day on which the poll will be taken, and of the 

Mass., §§ 14, ., .. ... . . . 

15; candidates described as in their respective nomination papers, 

Queens r "4 5 5o' an( ^ °^ tne names °f the persons who subscribe the nomination 
5y ; paper of each candidate, and of the order in which the names of 

Belg., § 112; l l ' 

Ky., §5; the candidates will be printed in the ballot paper, and, in the 

Gt. Br. d si case °f an election for a count}*, deliver to the postmaster of the 
(3), mjra. principal post-office of the town in which is situate the place of 
election a paper, signed by himself, containing the names of the 
candidates nominated, and stating the day on which the poll is 
to be taken ; and the postmaster shall forward the information 
contained in such paper by telegraph, free of charge, to the sev- 
eral postal telegraph offices situate in the county for which the 
election is to be held ; and such information shall be published 
forthwith at each such office in the manner in which post-office 
notices are usually published. 

10. If any candidate nominated during the time appointed 
for the election is withdrawn in pursuance of this act, the return- 
ing officer shall give public notice of the name of such candidate, 
and the names of the persons who subscribed the nomination 
paper of such candidate, as well as of the candidates who stood 
nominated or were elected. 

11. The returning officer shall, on the nomination paper be- 
ing delivered to him, forthwith publish notice of the name of the 
person nominated as a candidate, and of the names of his pro- 
poser and seconder, by placarding or causing to be placarded 
the names of the candidate and his proposer and seconder in a 
conspicuous position outside the building in which the room is 
situate appointed for the election. 

12. A person shall not be entitled to have his name inserted 
in any ballot paper as a candidate unless he has been nominated 
in manner provided by this Act ; and every person whose nomi- 
nation paper has been delivered to the returning officer during 
the time appointed for the election shall be deemed to have been 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 93 

nominated in manner provided by this Act, unless objection be 
made to his nomination paper by the returning officer or some 
other person before the expiration of the time appointed for the 
election or within one hour afterwards. 

13. The returning officer shall decide on the validity of every 
objection made to a nomination paper (k) ; and his decision, (it) 

if disallowing the objection, shall be final ; but if allowing, the Gt^Br D § l 
same shall be subject to reversal on petition questioning the elec- (|)> in f ra > and 
tion or returns. 

The Poll. 

14. The poll shall take place on such day as the returning 
officer ma}' appoint, not being in the case of an election for a 
county or a district borough less than two nor more than six 
clear days, and not being in the case of an election for a borough 
other than a district borough more than three clear days, after 
the day fixed for the election (I). ^ 

(15) At every polling-place the returning officer shall provide a*! 8 '^ 6 *^. 
a sufficient number of polling-stations for the accommodation of Queens., §§ 48, 

49- 

the electors entitled to vote at such polling-place, and shall dis- Belg., §105; 
tribute the polling-stations amongst those electors in such man- ^ y y f ; 8 . 
ner as he thinks most convenient ; provided that in a district Gt. Br., B, § 4, 

, , . r. i , i,. • , «rn?e;D,§l(3), 

borough there shall be at least one polling-station at each con- infra. 
tributory place of such borough. 

16. Each polling-station shall be furnished (m) with such (w) 
number of compartments, in which the voters can mark their s.Austr. §54- 
votes screened from observation, as the returning: officer thinks Queens., §59; 

° Belg., § 117; 

necessary, so that at least one compartment be provided for K v., § 8; 
every one hundred and fifty electors (n) entitled to vote at such an ' f i n'oteY 
polling-station. P- 58 - 

17. A separate room or separate booth may contain a sepa- ffl - 
rate polling-station, or several polling-stations ma}* be con- Queens., § 59; 
structed in the same room or booth. Kr!j§8; ' 

18. No person shall be admitted to vote at any polling-sta- N - ^-> § 20 - 
tion except the one allotted to him. 

19. The returning officer shall give public notice of the situ- 
ation of polling-stations, and the description of voters entitled to 
vote at each station, and of the mode in which electors are to 
vote. 

20. The returning officer shall provide each polling-station 



94 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

with materials for voters to mark the ballot papers, with instru- 
ments for stamping thereon the official mark, and with copies of 
the register of voters or such part thereof as contains the names 
of the voters allotted to vote at such station. He shall keep the 
official mark secret ; and an interval of not less than seven years 
shall intervene between the use of the same official mark at elec- 
tions for the same count} 7 or borough. 

21. The returning officer shall appoint a presiding officer to 

preside at each station ; and the officer so appointed shall keep 

order at his station, shall regulate the number of electors to be 

(o) admitted at a time, and shall exclude all other persons (o), ex- 

S.Austr. §59; ce Pt the clerks, the agents of the candidates, and the constables 

Belg.^"^ 59 '' ° n duty ' 

Kv., § 17; 22. Everv ballot paper shall contain a list of the candidates 

N. Y. § 20" 

and Note l, described as in their respective nomination papers, and ar- 

P* 52- ranged (p) alphabetically in the order of their surnames, and (if 

(p) 

Mass., §10; there are two or more candidates with the same surname) of 

Queens'" '^58°' their other names ; it shall be in the form set forth in the second 
Beiff., §§ 114, schedule to this Act, or as near thereto as circumstances admit, 

115* 

Ky-', § 4 ; and shall be capable of being folded up. 

Gt. Br. D § 1 ^' (Provisions relating to the ballot-box.) 

(6) infra; 24. Immediately before a ballot paper is delivered to an 

and Note 4, *; 1 l 

p. 55. elector, it shall be marked on both sides with the official 

(?) mark (q), either stamped or perforated, and the number, name, 

§ 2, ante, and ' and description of the elector as stated in the copy of the regis- 

note (c). ^ er sna ]i k e ca n e (j ou t, and the number of such elector shall be 

marked on the counterfoil (q), and a mark shall be placed in the 

register against the number of the elector, to denote that he 

has received a ballot paper, but without showing the particular 

ballot paper which he has received. 

25. The elector on receiving the ballot paper shall forthwith 
proceed into one of the compartments in the polling-station, and 
(r) there mark (r) his paper, and fold it up so as to conceal his 

§ 2, ante, note' vote, and shall then put his ballot-paper, so folded up, into the 
'•Form d f C Di- ballot-box; he shall" vote without undue delay, and shall quit 
rections for the polling-station as soon as he has put his ballot-paper into 

Voters," infra. ,. , ., , , 

the ballot-box. 
(i) 26. The presiding officer, on the application of any voter (s) 

Mass., §25; w h is incapacitated by blindness or other ptrysical cause from 
VII; voting in the manner prescribed by this Act, or (if the poll be 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 95 

taken on Saturday) of any voter who declares that he is of the Queens., §73; 

Jewish persuasion, and objects on religious grounds to vote in Ky^S 10; ' 

manner prescribed by this Act, or of any voter who makes such N \ Y -> § 25 ; 
1 *' J and Note 8, 

a declaration as hereinafter mentioned that he is unable to read, p. 61. 
shall, in the presence of the agents of the candidates, cause the 
vote of such voter to be marked on a ballot paper in manner 
directed by such voter, and the ballot paper to be placed in the 
ballot-box, and the name and number on the register of voters 
of every voter whose vote is marked in pursuance of this rule, 
and the reason why it is so marked, shall be entered on a list, 
in this Act called "the list of votes marked by the presiding 
officer." 

The said declaration, in this Act referred to as " the declara- 
tion of inabilit}^ to read," shall be made by the voter at the time 
of polling, before the presiding officer, who shall attest it in the 
form hereinafter mentioned, and no fee, stamp, or other pay- 
ment shall be charged in respect of such declaration, and the 
said declaration shall be given to the presiding officer at the 
time of voting. 

27. If a person, representing himself to be a particular elector 
named on the register, applies for a ballot paper after another 
person has voted as such elector, the applicant shall, upon duly 
answering the questions, and taking the oath permitted by law 
to be asked of and to be administered to voters at the time of 
polling, be entitled to mark a ballot paper in the same manner 
as any other voter, but the ballot paper (in this Act called a 
tendered ballot paper) shall be of a color differing from the 
other ballot papers, and, instead of being put into the ballot- 
box, shall be given to the presiding officer, and endorsed by him 
with the name of the voter and his number in the register of 
voters, and set aside in a separate packet, and shall not be 
counted by the returning officer. And the name of the voter 
and his number on the register shall be entered on a list, in this 
Act called " the tendered votes list." 

28. A voter who has inadvertently dealt with his ballot paper 

in such manner that it cannot be conveniently used as a ballot . 

(0 
paper (t) ma} T , on delivering to the presiding officer the ballot Mass., § 24; 

paper so inadvertently dealt with, and proving the fact of the vm™**'' 5 ' 

inadvertence to the satisfaction of the presiding officer, obtain Belg.,§i25; 

Kv., § 9; 

another ballot paper in the place of the ballot paper so delivered Nl Y.,§ 24. 



96 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

up (ill this Act called a spoilt ballot paper), and the spoilt 
ballot paper shall be immediately cancelled. 

29. The presiding officer of each station, as soon as practi- 
cable after the close of the poll, shall, in the presence of the 
agents of the candidates, make up into separate packets sealed 
with his own seal and the seals of such agents of the candidates 
as desire to affix their seals, — 

(1.) Each ballot-box in use at his station, unopened, but with 
the key attached ; and 

(2.) The unused and spoilt ballot papers placed together ; and 

(3.) The tendered ballot papers ; and 

(4.) The marked copies of the register of voters, and the 
counterfoils of the ballot papers ; and 

(5.) The tendered votes list, and the list of votes marked by 
the presiding officer, and a statement of the number of the 
voters whose votes are so marked by the presiding officer under 
the heads "physical incapacit}-," "Jews," and "unable to 
read," and the declarations of inability to read ; and shall de- 
liver such packets to the returning officer. 

30. The packets shall be accompanied by a statement made 
by such presiding officer, showing the number of ballot papers 
entrusted to him, and accounting for them under the heads of 
ballot-papers in the ballot-box, unused, spoilt, and tendered bal- 
lot papers, which statement is in this Act referred to as the 
ballot paper account. 

Counting Votes. 

31-34. (Provisions for conducting the counting of the votes.) 

34. Before the returning officer proceeds to count the votes, 
he shall, in the presence of the agents of the candidates, open 
each ballot-box, and taking out the papers therein, shall count 
and record the number thereof, and then mix together the whole 
of the ballot papers contained in the ballot-boxes. The return- 
ing officer, while counting and recording the number of ballot 
papers and counting the votes, shall keep the ballot-papers with 
their faces upwards, and take all proper precautions for pre- 
venting any person from seeing the numbers printed on the 
backs of such ballot papers. 

35. (Provision as to the time during which the counting shall 
take place.) 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 97 

36. . . . The returning officer shall report to the Clerk of the 
Crown in Chancery the number of ballot papers rejected and 
not counted by him under the several heads of — 

1. Want of official mark ; 

2. Voting for more candidates than entitled to ; 

3. Writing or mark by which voter may be identified ; 

4. Unmarked, or void for uncertainty ; 

and shall, on request, allow any agents of the candidates, before 
such report is sent, to copy it. 

37-39. (Provisions for sealing all packets, etc., and forward- 
ing them to the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.) 

40. (Inspection of rejected ballot-papers to be allowed only 
upon order of the proper tribunal.) 

41. No person shall, except by order of the House of Com- 
mons or any tribunal having cognizance of petitions complaining 
of undue returns or undue elections, open the sealed packet of 
counterfoils after the same has been once sealed up, or be al- 
lowed to inspect any counted ballot papers in the custody of the 
Clerk of the Crown in Chancery ; such order may be made sub- 
ject to such conditions as to persons, time, place, and mode of 
opening as the House or tribunal making the order mav think 
expedient ; provided that on making and carrying into effect any 
such order, care shall be taken that the mode in which an}' par- 
ticular elector has voted shall not be discovered until he has 
been proved to have voted, and his vote has been declared by a 
competent court to be invalid. 

42-43. (Further provision as to the inspection of ballot- 
papers, etc.) 

General Provisions (44-63). 

46. Where the returning officer is required or authorized by 
this Act to give any public notice, he shall carry such require- 
ment into effect by advertisements, placards, handbills, or such 
other means as he thinks best calculated to afford information to 
the electors. 

50. The presiding officer may do, by the clerks appointed to 
assist him (u) aity act which he is required or authorized to do fa) 
by this Act at a polling-station, except ordering the arrest, ex- §. Austr. §58, 
elusion, or ejection from the polling-station of any person. ^> 

54. Every returning officer, and every officer, clerk, or agent Belg., §123;' 

7 



98 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

Ky., § 7; authorized to attend at a polling-station, or at the counting of 

and Note 6 the votes, shall, before the opening of the poll, make a statutory 
P- 59 - declaration of secrec}', in the presence, if he is the returning 

officer, of a justice of the peace, and if he is any other officer or 
agent, of a justice of the peace or of the returning officer. . . . 
56. In reckoning time for the purposes of this Act, Sunday, 
Christmas Day, Good Fridaj^, and any day set apart for a pub- 
(v) lie fast or public thanksgiving, shall be excluded (v) ; and where 

Ky^Tii' anything is required by this Act to be done on any day which 

and Note 14, f a Hs on the above-mentioned days, such thing may be done on 
the next day, unless it is one of the days excluded as above- 
mentioned. 

Part II. (Application of the foregoing Rules to Municipal 

Elections) . 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



99 



c. 

Second Schedule. 

1. Form of Nomination Paper in Parliamentary Election. 

We, the undersigned, A. B. of in the of , 

and C. D. of in the of , being electors for 

the of , do hereby nominate the following person as 

a proper person to serve as member for the said in 

Parliament : 



Surname. 


Other Names. 


Abode. 


Rank, 

Profession, or 
Occupation. 


Brown 


John 


52, George St., 
Bristol 


Merchant 


Jones 


William 
David 


High Elms, 
Wilts 


Esquire 


Merton 


Hon. George Tra- 
vis, commonly 
called Viscount 


Swanworth, 
Berks 


Viscount 


Smith 


Henry Sydney 


72, High St., 
Bath 


Attorney 



(Signed) A. B. 
C. D. 

We, the undersigned, being registered electors of , do 

hereb}- assent to the nomination of the above-mentioned John 
Brown as a proper person to serve as a member for the said 
in Parliament. 

(Signed) E. F. of 
G. H. of 
I. J. of 
K. L. of 
M. N. of 
O. P. of 
Q. R. of 
S. T. of 



100 



AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

2. Form of B 'allot- Paper. 
Form of Front of Ballot Paper. 



Counterfoil 
No. 



Note : The coun- 
terfoil is to have a 
number to corre- 
spond with that on 
the back of the Bal- 
lot-Paper. 



1 


BROWN. 

(John Brown, of 52, George 

St., Bristol, Merchant). 




2 


JONES. 

(William David Jones, of 

High Elms, Wilts, Esq.) 




3 


MERTON. 
(Hon. George Travis, com- 
monly called Viscount, of 
Swan worth, Berks). 




4 


SMITH. 
(Henry Sydney Smith, of 
72, High St., Bath, At- 
torney). 





Form of Back of Ballot Paper. 



No. 

18 



Election for 



count}' [or borough, or ward]. 



Form of Directions for the Guidance of the Voter in voting, 
which shall be printed in conspicuous Characters, and 
placarded outside every Polling- Station and in every 
Compartment of every Polling- Station. 

The voter may vote for candidate . 

The voter will go into one of the compartments, and, with the 
ho) pencil provided in the compartment, place a cross {to) on the 

§2* !m*ef note' right hand side, opposite the name of each candidate for whom 
(AandB,§25. he votes, thus X. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 101 

The voter will then fold up the ballot paper so as to show the 
official mark on the back, and leaving the compartment, will, 
without showing the front of the paper to any person, show the 
official mark on the back to the presiding officer, and then, in 
the presence of the presiding officer, put the paper into the 
ballot-box, and forthwith quit the polling-station. 

If the voter inadvertently spoils a ballot-paper, he can return 
it to the officer, who will, if satisfied of the inadvertence, give 
him another paper. 



If the voter votes for more than candidate , or places 
any mark on the paper b} r which he may be afterwards identi- 
fied, his ballot paper will be void and will not be counted. 

If the voter takes a ballot paper out of the polling-station, or 
deposits in the box any other paper than the one given him by 
the officer, he will be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be subject to 
imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months, with or 
without hard labor. 

Note. These directions shall be illustrated by examples of 
the ballot paper. 



D. 

The regulations governing the conduct of municipal 
elections were partially altered by the Municipal Elections 
Act, 1875 (38-9 Vict. c. 40), the sections embodying mate- 
rial changes being herewith giveu. 

Municipal Elections Act, 1875. 

1. ... (3) Every nomination paper subscribed as afore- 
said shall be delivered by the candidate himself, or his 
proposer or seconder, to the town clerk (z), seven clays at /p) 
least before the day of election (?/), and before 5 o'clock note%. W ' e ' 
in the afternoon of the last day on which any such nomi- (y) 
nation paper may by law be delivered ; the town clerk shall ante, note (h. 
forthwith send notice of such nomination to each person 
nominated. The mayor shall attend at the town hall on 
the day next after the last day for the delivery of nomina- 



102 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

tions to the town clerk between the hours of 2 and 4 in 
the afternoon, and shall decide on the validity of every 
(s) objection made to a nomination paper («), such objection 

ante, note (k). to be made in writing. . . . The decision of the mayor, 
which shall be given in writing, shall, if disallowing any 
objection to a nomination paper, be final, but if allowing 
the same shall be subject to reversal on petition question- 

( a ) ing the election or return. . . . The town clerk shall (a) 
ante, note '(./). a ^ least four days before the day of election cause the sur- 
names and other names of all persons duly nominated, 
with their respective places of abode and descriptions, and 
the names of the persons subscribing their respective 
nomination papers, as proposers and seconders, to be 
printed and placed on the door of the town hall, and in 
some conspicuous parts of the borough or ward for which 
such election is to be held. 

... 7. When more candidates are nominated at any 
municipal election than there are vacancies to be filled at 

(b) such election, any of such candidates may withdraw (5) 
ante, note (b). from his candidature by notice signed by him and delivered 

to the town clerk not later than two o'clock in the after- 
noon of the day next after the last day for the delivery of 
nomination papers to the town clerk. . . . 

... 6. At the poll at anj- election of auditors and asses- 
sors one ballot paper only shall be used by any person 
( C ) voting. In such ballot paper (c) the names of the candi- 

aMte B i\ote 2 ?») dates for the respective offices shall be separate and dis- 
tinguished, so as to show the office for which they are 
respectively candidates ; and the ballot paper shall be in 
the form No. 3, set forth in the first schedule to this Act, 
or to the like effect. . . . 

The provisions of this Act have been embodied in the 
Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (45-6 Vict. c. 50), and 
are now in force by virtue of the latter Act. The provi- 
sions corresponding to those quoted above are contained 
for the most part in Schedule III., Part II., of the Act 
of 1882. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



103 



3. Form of Ballot Paper for Municipal Elections. 

Form of Front of Ballot Paper. 
For Auditors. 



Counterfoil 

No. 



Note : The counter- 
foil is to have a number 
to correspond until that 
on the back of the Ballot- 
Paper. 



1 


CADE. 

(John Cade, of 22, Well- 
close Place, Accountant.) 




2 


JOHNSON. 

(diaries Johnson, of 7, Al- 
bion St., Gentleman.) 




3 


THOMPSON. 

(William Thompson, of 14, 

Queen St., Silversmith.) 





For Revising Assessors. 



1 


BACON. 

(Charles Bacon, of 29, New 
St., Solicitor.) 


f 


2 


BYRON. 

(James Byron, of 45, George 
St., Commission Agent.) 


i 


3 


WILSON. 

(George Wilson, of 22, Han- 
over Square, Gentleman.) 





E. 

By the Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officers) 
Act, 1875 (38-9 Vict. c. 84), the expenses of parliamen- 
tary elections are placed upon the candidates in equal 
shares, or upon the nominators of a candidate, if he was 
nominated without his consent. To this extent the provi- 
sions of the Ballot Act are altered so that if the returning 
officer exercises his right (§ 3 of the above Act) to require 



104 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

(d) security (d) from the candidates, and a candidate fails to 

Queens., §§ 49, Q ^ ev ^t, security (the proper sum being estimated accord- 
Ky., § 2; and j n ™ to a fi xe( j schedule) within one hour from the time 

Note 15, p. 65. & y 

when nominations are closed, his nomination is a nullity. 
The above Act was amended by the Parliamentary Elec- 
tions (Returning Officers) Act, 1885, but only in respect 
to the amount of security to be required. 



V. BELGIUM. 



A. Electoral Codes, 1872, as amended by Consolidated 
Election Laws, 1878. 

B. Law of 21 May, 1884. 

A. 

Electoral Code, 1872, as amended by Consoli- 
dated Election Laws, 1878. 

[Title I. Qualifications of Voters.] 
[Title II. Registration.] 
[Title III. Election Districts.] 



Title IV. Conduct of Elections (Arts. 96-166). 

Chap. I. General Regulations for the preservation of 
Order, etc. 

Art. 97. The presiding election officer of the district 
or of the polling-station shall have sole authority to en- 
force order in the premises where the election is held ; he 
may delegate this authority to one of the officers at the 
polling-place for the purpose of maintaining order in the 

waiting-room while the voters are being 1 called in. 

t \ 
Only candidates and voters of the district shall be ad- M as s., § 21 ; 

mitted to the premises where the election takes place. Q' U eens.''$59;' 

But during the voting and the counting of votes they ^' B §' 1 7 : ^ 21 ' 

shall not remain (a) in that part of the premises where N - J-> § 20 ; 

v ' L r and Note 1, 

these proceedings take place. p- 52. 



106 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

Chap. II. (applying only to national and provincial 
elections). 

Section I. Candidates. 

Art. 105. Candidates must be proposed at least six clear 
(b) days before the da} r of election (6). 

s. Austr., §46; Art. 106. The nomination paper must be signed (1) in 
Queens., §§ 48, an e i ect i on f or ^e legislature, by at least fifty electors (<?) 
UD r 5i'(f/' * a ^ e arr o n( iissements, which, when an entire legislature 
Ky^§2; is to be elected, are entitled to more than four members, 

and by thirty electors in other arrondissements ; (2) in a 
Mass., §4; provincial election, by at least twenty-five electors (c) in 
Queens!,V49;' tne cantons which are entitled to four or more councillors, 
Ky., §*2- 1; anc ^ D y ten electors in other cantons. 

Bg]J''A 5 -L Nomination papers shall be delivered by three of the 

infra; and signers thereof to the presiding officer of the chief pollingr- 

Note 2 n 53 to 

place (d), who shall give a receipt therefor. They shall 
Mass., § 6; indicate the surname, first name, residence, and occupa- 
Qaeens.^§ 49;' tion of the candidates and of the electors who present 
D.'i lihy' ^ 8 ' tnem > an d shall be dated and signed. The candidates 
N y 'Y^8 4 shall be entered on the ballot in alphabetical order, and 
when members of the senate and of the chamber of repre- 
sentatives are to be elected at the same time, their names 
shall be arranged in separate groups. 

Art. 107. A person proposed as a candidate shall ac- 
(e) cept(e) in writing, signed by himself, and delivered to the 

n'oteVp. 54. ' presiding officer of the chief polling-place. When candi- 
dates present themselves together and form an entire 
group [equal in number to the number of members to be 
elected], the acceptance shall so state. Candidates for 
the legislature may indicate the party appellation which 
they wish printed at the head of their group. 

An acceptance may be made at the same time with the 
nomination. 

Art. 108. Candidates shall, at the time of accepting, 
designate, as agents to be present at the polls, as many 
electors as there are polling-places, and an equal number 
of substitutes. A candidate himself may be designated as 
agent or as substitute. 



BELGIUM. 107 

Art. 109. The requirements of Arts. 107 and 108 shall 
be fulfilled five clear days before the day of election. 

Arts. 110-111. (Provision, in further detail, for the 
appointment of agents for the polling-places.) 

Art. 112. At the expiration of the period within which 
nominations may be made, the election officers of the chief 
polling-place shall make up the list of candidates for whom 
votes ma}- validly be given on the day of election. This 
list shall be immediately posted (/) in all the towns of the (/) 
arrondissement or the canton. The posted list shall con- i5* ss *' ' 
tain in large letters, in black ink, the names of the candi- Q' lie en S s. r ,''4 50,' 
dates in the form of the ballot as hereafter described, and j^ Br B § 9 
shall in addition indicate the first name, occupation, and D, § 1(3); 
residence of each candidate, and shall also contain the N. y., §'io. 
instructions annexed as No. I. 

The presiding officer of the chief polling-place, at the 
request of the candidates or of the electors who presented 
them, shall communicate (g) to them the official list of (<?) 
candidates not later than the fourth day before the day of ee ^' su J" a 
election. 

Section II. Ballots. 

Art. 113. At the expiration of the time allowed for 
presenting candidates, the election officers of the chief 
polling-place shall prepare the ballots and cause them to 
be printed on official paper. 

Art. 114. Candidates to the legislature who present 
themselves together and form an entire group shall be 
placed in a single column, arranged in alphabetical order 
for each Chamber, the candidates for the Senate coming 
first (7i). The party appellation, as indicated according to (h) 
Art. 107, shall be printed at the head of the column. When s. Au'str.. §' sr> ; 
there are more members than one to be elected, candidates Gt. C Br!B;§22; 
presented independently shall be placed in alphabetical k' 'Vf!' 
order in a special column. Each column shall be printed ^; d Y ^ § T ^ 
in ink of a different color ; the whole ballot being prepared p- 55. 
according to the annexed model No. II. 

Art. 115. Candidates for the provincial councils who 



108 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

present themselves together and form an entire group 

shall be placed in a single column in alphabetical or- 

(i) der (z). The first column shall contain the group in which 

bee ( ) supra. occurs ^g name fi rs t [ n alphabetical order, and so on for 

the other groups, whether entire or partial. 

The election officers of the chief polling-place shall 
cause the ballots to be printed or written in black ink. 
Those who present themselves together and form an entire 
group may request that a distinctive device be placed at 
the head of their group ; the whole being prepared accord- 
ing to the annexed model No. III. 

Art. 116. The use of all other ballots is forbidden. 

Section III. Of Polling Arrangements and the Process of 

Voting. 

Art. 117. The polling place and the separate compart- 
ments in which the electors must record or determine upon 
(;") their votes shall be constructed (j) according to the 

Mass., §21; AT TT _ ,. . ,° 

s. Austr., §54; annexed model .No. IV. But the dimensions and arrange- 

Gt e Br. S ,B,§i6; ment thereof may be modified according to the require- 

n?y., § ! 20 ; ments of the premises or the needs of the occasion. 

and Note 5, £ rt 118. There shall be at least one compartment or 

, h) separate shelf for every 100 electors (k). 

Mass., § 21; j_ rt 119 Instructions, as contained in the annexed 

Queens., § o9; 7 

Gt.Br.,B,§ 16; model No. I., shall be placarded on the outside of each 
N" Y. § 20. polling-place, in the waiting-room, and within each sepa- 
rate compartment. 

Art. 120. The electors shall be called in alphabetical 
order from a list containing the name, first name, age, 
occupation, and residence of every elector in the district 
or polling-place. Any charges of error in this list shall 
be decided upon by the election officers, having regard 
only to the official lists arranged by towns and posted 
according to Art. 102. 

Art. 121. (Provides that no one shall vote whose name 
is not on the list or who cannot present a certificate of 
qualification from the proper authorities.) 

Art. 122. As one elector leaves the voting-place, the 



BELGIUM. 109 

clerk shall call another so that the electors shall succeed 
each other in the compartments without cessation. 

Art. 123. The elector when called shall approach and 
receive from the hands of the presiding officer (7) a ballot (I) 
folded at right angles into four parts, and stamped (w) on s.Tustr., §'58, 
the back with a stamp indicating the number of the polling- Q^ e ' ens § 71 . 
place, and the date of the election. He shall proceed Gt.Br.,B,§50; 
directly to one of the compartments, shall there mark hisN.Y., §21: 

in ii ■ -1 • /v> anc ' Note 6, 

vote, snail return and show to the presiding officer the p. 59. 
ballot folded properly into four parts, the stamp on the ^ ss . 10 . 
outside, shall drop it into the ballot-urn, and shall leave s.Austr.,§ 57; 

Queens., § 71; 

the voting-room. Gt. Br., a, § 2; 

T> c Cjj . 

When it is made to appear that a voter is blind or Ky.,"§§4, 7; 
infirm (w), the presiding officer shall permit him to have Belg.j's i5i| 
a guide or assistant accompany him into the compartment. ^ T E'' 7 a p d 59 
The names of both shall be preserved in the official report ( n ) 
of the proceedings. SftSiifs'ss, 

Art. 124. If the elector wishes to give his vote to all Q U 'y ns c 73 . 
the candidates of a single group, he shall mark (o) with a Gt.Br.,B,§26; 
pencil a cross in the square reserved for the purpose at the N. f., § 25; 
head of the group of candidates. If he wishes to give his p . oi. 
vote to certain candidates upon the same or different lists, 
he shall mark (o) with a pencil a cross in the square reserved (<>) 

. Mass , § 23 ; 

fortius purpose opposite the name of each of the candi- s. Au'str., §58, 
dates for whom he votes. When there is but one member Queens., § 73: 
to elect, the vote shall be expressed as in the former case B^s^H^cf 2 ' 
above, no square being printed opposite the candidate's "Form of Di- 

' J- or jti rections for 

name. voters;'^ 

Every cross, although imperfectly made, shall be a valid n".y., §22; 
expression of the vote (p), unless an intention is manifest infra; and ' 
to render the ballot recognizable. ^ OTE 9 ' p " 62 ' 

Art. 125. If the elector inadvertently mars (<?) the S e e ( r ) t i n / r a, 
ballot which has been delivered to him, he may request p- 110- 
another from the presiding officer, upon giving up to him ^ ss ^ 24 . 
the first, which shall be immediately cancelled. ^• I ^ u f tr -> § 58 > 

Art. 126. The clerk shall check on the list the name of Gt.Br.,B,§28; 
each elector who answers at the time of the first or the N. T., §24. 
second call. When an elector receives a ballot from the 



110 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

hands of the presiding officer, one of the inspectors shall 
enter his name on a special list of voters. 

Art. 127. There shall be a second call for those elec- 
tors who were not present when first called. When the 
second call is over, the presiding officer or his deputy shall 
ask the assemblage if there are any electors present who 
have not voted. Those who present themselves immedi- 
ately shall be allowed to vote. When this has been done, 
the poll shall be declared closed. 

Art. 128. The elector may not remain in the compart- 
ment longer than is necessary to prepare his ballot. 

Art. 129. When the poll is closed, the election officers 
shall place in separate sealed envelopes the ballots re- 
turned according to Art. 125, and the unused ballots. 
The number of returned ballots shall be recorded in the 
official report, and the envelope containing them shall be 
annexed thereto. The unused ballots shall be returned 
by the election officers of the chief polling-place to the 
superintendent of registration of the province. 

Art. 130. No one shall be compelled to disclose the 
manner in which he voted, whether at a preliminary 
examination, a trial, or a parliamentary inquiry. 

Section IV. Counting the Votes. 

( r ) Art. 147. The following ballots shall be void (r) : 

s Ia lustr §'64; 1. All ballots other than those whose use is permitted 

8rBr S ;§ § 2; 6; bythisact: 

n"y' \u3 28- 2* All ballots expressing no choice, or giving more than 

Beig.', § 124, one vote to the same person, or containing more votes than 

Note 10, p. 63. there are members to be elected to either of the legislative 

chambers or to the provincial councils : 

3. All ballots which by a sign, erasure, or other mark of 

any sort, not authorized by law, are rendered recognizable, 

and all ballots altered in form or dimensions, or containing 

within them a paper or other thing. 

Art. 151. The State shall furnish the election paper, 
(s ) which shall be stamped before being delivered (s) to the 

See (m), ante. p res i c ii' n g officer of the chief polling-place. 



BELGIUM. Ill 

The government shall fix the dimensions of ballots ac- 
cording to the number of members to be elected. Ballots 
for the same district at the same election shall be of the 
same dimensions. 1 

Art. 152. It shall be the duty of the capital town of 
each arrondissement to take charge of, renew, and repair 
the partitions, shelves, and other material furnished to 
them by the State. The partitions, railings, shelves, 
stamping-instruments, and stamps shall be furnished by 
the provinces to the other towns which are capitals of 
cantons ; and it shall be the duty of these towns to take 
charge of, renew, and repair these materials. 

Art. 153. All other expenses incident to elections (ex- 
cept the electoral registers in several towns, which are 
charged upon the province) shall be borne by the town in 
which the election takes place. 

Chap. III. (Application of the foregoing principles to 
Elections in Towns.) 

Art. 155. (As amended by the law of 26 Aug. 1878) (t). (t) 
Nominations of candidates shall be signed (u) in towns of e t<£f p .39. ' 

More than 10,000 inhabitants, by at least 20 electors; ( M ) . . , 

From 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants, by at least 10 electors; 
From 3,000 to 5,000 inhabitants, by at least 5 electors; 

and in towns of less than 3,000 inhabitants, by 3 electors, 
among whom may be the candidates themselves. 

Title V: Penalties (Arts. 167-191). 

Art. 168. The counterfeiting of official ballots shall be 
punished as a falsification of a public writing. 

Art. 169. Any person who shall append the signature 
of another or of a fictitious person to a nomination-paper, 

i By the laws of 18 Jan. and 17 Sept., 1878 (Supplement, etc., pp. 19, 
25), the size of the ballots is fixed as follows, the first figure representing 
the width : In districts having less than 6 members, 21 X 21 cm. ; having 
from 6 to 12 members, 24 X 24 cm.; having more than 12 members, 21 X 
34 cm. ; and in towns (general elections) 21 X 34 cm. 



112 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

to an acceptance of a nomination, or to an appointment 
of agents shall be deemed guilty of falsifying a private 
writing. 

Art. 183. Every presiding officer, inspector, or clerk of 
a polling-place, and every agent of a candidate, who shall 
disclose the contents of one or more ballots shall be fined 
not less than 500 f., and not more than 3000 f., and in ad- 
dition may be deprived, for a period not exceeding ten 
years, of the right to act as election officer or agent, or to 
vote or to be voted for. 

[Title VI : Qualifications for holding office.] 
[Title VIT : Constitution of the legislative 

CHAMBERS, PROVINCIAL AND TOWN 
COUNCILS.] 

[Title VIII : Repeals and miscellaneous provi- 
sions.] 

B. 

Law of 21 May, 1884, repealing art. 124, ante. 

Art. 1. If the elector wishes to give his vote to all the 

(v) candidates of a single group, he shall (v) blacken with 

the instrument (" estamjnlle ") placed at his disposition 

the white point in the centre of the square placed at the 

head of the list of candidates. 

If the elector wishes to give his vote to certain candi- 
dates upon the same or different lists, he shall (v) blacken 
as before the white point in the centre of the square placed 
opposite the name of each candidate for whom he votes. 
. . . Every impression made in the square with the instru- 
ment and covering the white point, even though incom- 
plete, confused, or otherwise defective, shall be a valid 
expression of the vote, unless an intention is manifest to 
render the ballot recognizable. 



See (o), ante. 



BELGIUM. 



113 



MODEL No. II. 

Legislative Ballot (actual size about 10 in. square). 



Anvers. 

[Blue.] 




Election du. 



[Black.] 



[Carmine.] 

































For Senator (Liberal). 


For Senator [all others]. 


For Senator (Catholic). 


1 


DESMET 




1 


AMMAN 




1 


MABILLE 




2 


EVERAERT 




2 


DELVAL 




2 


PEPIN 




3 


NELSON 




3 






3 


VANSTUPPEN 




For Representative 
(Liberal). 


For Representative 
[all others]. 


For Representative 
(Catholic). 


1 


DUBOIS 




1 


UYTERELST 




1 


ABELOOT 




2 


GEIRTS 




2 


VAN LOY 




2 


DEBOECK 




3 


MATERLING 










O 


HOMMEN 




4 


NICK 










4 


HOTTOIS 




5 


VANDENTOCK 










6 


LINSACK 




6 


VARMON 










6 


VAN DIEZT 





114 



AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 



MODEL No. III. 

Provincial Ballot. 



Election du Province de. 

* o 



., 18... 



O 















n 














1 


ABADIE 




1 


BERTRAND 




1 


COLIN 




2 


DELCAMPS 




2 


CORNET 




2 


DALTON 




3 


JACQUES 




3 


DUCANGE 




3 


HERMAND 




4 


NIEMAND 




4 


MAENHOUT 




4 


NICOLAS 




5 


PEETERS 




5 


ROBIN 




5 


STEVENS 




6 


XHOFFER 




6 


VERTBOIS 




6 


TILQUIN 







































BELGIUM. 



115 



MODEL No. IV. 

Polling Arrangements. 



Entrance. 



Waiting Boom. 



Movable Partitions. 



D □ □ □ □ 



Da 



D» 



□ 



Voting 



□ 



Room. 



A = Ballot-box. 

B = Presiding officer. 

C = Inspectors. 



D = Clerk. 

E = Agents. 

F = Compartments. 



VI. — KENTUCKY. 



AN ACT TO KEGULATE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN THE 
CITY OF LOUISVILLE (Approved Feb. 24, 1888). 

Section 1. (The provisions of the act are applicable to 
elections of municipal officers, with certain exceptions, in 
Louisville.) 

Sec. 2. In order to have their names printed on the 

(a) . , 

Mass., §4; ballots hereinafter described, candidates must be nomi- 
Queens.,V 4 9;' nated as follows : A candidate for one ward must be pro- 
Beig.^'§§ io6, ' posed by the written petition of ten or more registered 
n & y § 5- voters (a) of the ward, accompanied by the city treasurer's 
and Note 2, receipt for five dollars (6) ; a candidate for the city at large 
(6) must be proposed by the written petition of fifty or more 

Queens., §§ 49, re gistered voters of the city, accompanied by a like receipt 
Gt. Br., E. f or twenty dollars (b) ; the petition in either case to be 
Mass., §6; presented to the mayor (<?) not less than ten days (cf), 
Qufen S s.?§ § 49 8 ;' Sundays included (e), before the election. 

d'u (3?- § 8 ; ^ EC# **• Jt s ^ a11 tlie ^ ut y of tlie mayor °f tlae city to 

Beig., § 106; cause to be printed and bound and ready for distribution, 

N. Y., § 4. 

(j) not less than three days before any municipal election, one 

S^Austr. 6 §46; D0 °k of stubs and ballots for each voting precinct in said 
Queens., §§ 48, q^j^ an( j w ithin such three days to distribute these books 
GtBr.,B.,§§4, amongc the clerks of such precincts. The book for each 
Be'ig.,'§ 105; ' precinct shall contain as many leaves (/) as there are 
( v ' * registered voters therein, with a reasonable number added 
s. Austr., to supply ballots that may be spoiled. The form herein- 
Gt.Br.,B,§56; after given for the election returns shall be printed on the 
p n 65. ' inside of one of the covers of the book. The cost of print- 

|/) . ing and binding these books, and the necessary expenses 

s. Austr., §'56; of all publications, stationery, ballot-boxes and compart- 
n. y., § i6. ' ments prescribed by this act shall be borne by the city. 



KENTUCKY. 117 

Should the mayor be absent from the city, or prevented by 
sickness from acting, the duties imposed by this section 
upon him shall be performed by the city attorney. 

Sec. 4. Each stub in such books shall have printed on 
it a consecutive number, commencing with number one, 
and shall be worded as follows : — 

Consecutive number — (After these words the consecu- 
tive number shall be printed, beginning with one, and 
increasing in regular numerical order). 

Name of voter — (After these words the clerk shall set 
down the voter's name). 

Registered residence — (After these words the clerk is 
to set down the voter's residence as found in the registra- 
tion book of the precinct). 

The ballot shall be printed on the same leaf with, and 
shall be separated from the stub by a perforated line ; and 
it shall be divided by heavy black lines into two columns, 
and these again by horizontal black lines into divisions for 
the different offices to be voted for, or questions to be 
determined. Each division shall be substantially in the 
following form (<?) : — ($...«. 

& KifJ Mass., § 10; 

r John Brown, Qumm^S!' 

For Mayor } William Smith, ^§ B i'(?); §22; 

C James Williams, £ejs-» §§ ii4, 

115; 

N. Y., §14; 

arranging the names in the alphabetical order of their ^"55^°™ ' 
surnames, and if several candidates have the same sur- 
name, in the order of their given names ; and in like 
manner for the other city offices to be filled, in this order: 
Mayor, Receiver of City Taxes, Treasurer, Auditor. Then, 
if any question be submitted, — 

Yes. 

No. 



For tax (or other measure) ] 



Should there be hereafter other officers to be voted for by 
the whole city, proper divisions are to be added for them. 
In the 'second column similar divisions shall be printed: 
For Alderman, for Councilman, for School Trustee, with 



118 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

the names of the candidates put after them in the manner 
above indicated : Provided, that the ballot shall have only- 
one column when only representatives of wards or when 
only officers for the whole city are to be elected. 

The mayor shall cause the contents and form of the bal- 
lot, in the exact shape and size in which it is to be used 
(h) for the city at large and for each ward, to be published Qi) 

^ass., §§ , .^ one Qr more of the daily newspapers that do the city 
Qutens. 1 ", '§§ 50' printing on the day preceding the election, or in handbill 
^J d r> c n form, in his discretion ; in which latter case he shall cause 

Gt. Br., B, § 9; ' ' 

D - §1(3); said handbill to be properly circulated and distributed, to 
N. Y.', § io.' the end that the voters may become familiar therewith. 
Sec. 6. (Division of the wards into precincts.) 
Sec. 7. When a voter has given his name, and the same 
«.) is found on the registration list, and he is found otherwise 

s^a'' tr 22 §' 58 <l uan fi e d, the clerk of the election shall put the voter's 
IV -; name on a stub in the book, together with the voter's reg- 

Queens., §71; , 

Gt.Br.,B,§50; istered residence, and the stub-book shall, lor this purpose, 
n? §"'.', § 21;' take the place of a poll-book. The clerk (i) shall tear the 
and Note 6, Fallot ff t j ie stu ^ an( j wr i te n i s own name on the back 

(ji) thereof (7), and hand it thus indorsed to the voter. He 

Ante 5 4; 

Mass'., § lb; shall also hand the voter an envelope or paper bag, and 
Qute U n S t . r '§ § 7iV shall then check the voter's name off on the registration 

Gt.Br.,A, §2, i , 
B, § 24; DOOK. 

Beig., §§ 123, g EC 3 (_^ ballot-box is to be provided by the Mayor.) 
N. Y. §21; The Mayor shall also cause to be set up, at each voting 

*ti id Note T 

p. 59. place, wooden compartments (&), one for every 175 regis- 

mLs §21- tered voters or fraction thereof (7), about six feet in height, 
s. Austr.,§54; anc [ a bout three feet square ; one side to open and shut as 
Gt.Br..B,§i6; a door, with a narrow shelf affixed to the opposite side. 
n!y'.',§20;' The clerk of each precinct shall put into each of these 
p n< 58 N ° TE 5 ' compartments lead pencils hung by strings. 
(l) Sec. 9. Each voter, when furnished with a ballot and 

Queens., §59; envelope or paper bag, must step alone into one of the 
Beig.^'§ ill; ' compartments and close the door behind him, and while 
N - Y -> § 20, within the same he shall put (m) on his ballot, after each 
Mass., §23; name of the candidate whom he prefers, a pencil mark in 
vi.; US ' the shape of an oblique cross, in substance thus X, and in 



KENTUCKY. 119 

like manner after the answer "yes" or "no" to any ques- Queens., §73; 
tion, submitted to the people. While still in the compart- B, t- § 25', c, ' 
ment he shall fold the ballot and put it in the envelope or rations for Dl " 
paper bag furnished to him. Should he inadvertently Voters; " 
spoil a ballot (w) he may return it and receive in place **, §i; 
thereof one other ballot ; the spoiled ballot thus returned and Note 9, 
shall be preserved by the clerk, and the fact shall be noted jj\ ' 
by hini by writing the word "spoiled" on the stub. (A Mass., §24; 

J 1 • *• • 1 S - Austr., § 58, 

voter may cast his vote tor a person not nominated, as pro- vin.; 
vided in section 2, above, by writing the name of such Beig.*'§ 125 ; ' 
person after that of the office to which he would have him ' •'S 2 ' 1 - 
elected, and making the mark hereinabove provided for 
after such name) (0). (o) 

Sec. 10. When a voter is, and avows himself to be, n?y!' § is'; 
blind (p), and is found to be such by the concurrence of p" q 6 Note 16 ' 
both iud^es and the sheriff of the precinct, the clerk shall (p) 

Mass 5 °5 • 

accompany him to one of the compartments and mark the s. Austr." §' 58, 
ballot at his dictation, and the word " blind " shall be put Q U e' e ; ns ., § 73 . 
on the stub under such voter's name. S 1 ; 61 ""'^'!, 26 ' 

rSelg., § 126; 

Sec. 11. A ballot which appears by its paper or type N - Y * § 25 ; 

11 1 r 1 "11 i 1 • 1 • and NoTE 8 » 

not to have been taken from the stub-book, or which is p. 61. 

not indorsed with the clerk's signature, or which contains 
any marks or writing upon it other than provided for by 
law, or which is put into an envelope or paper bag having 
any mark or writing upon it, or two or more ballots put 
into the same receptacle, shall be void (</). When a (7) 
voter marks more candidates for one office than he has s. Austr., §'64; 
a right to vote for, the ballot shall be void as to that Gt^Brl'A, § 2; 
office only. Beig., §§ 124, ' 

Sec. 12. A voter shall not occupy a compartment for £• y., §§ 13, 

CJ r 28; and Note 

more than three minutes (r), and shall, as soon as he leaves 10, p. 63. 
it, hand his ballot, folded and within the envelope or paper ^ g . 23 . 
bag, to the judges, who shall immediately, in the voter's N - Y -> § 12 - 
presence, drop it in the ballot-box, affording him full op- 
portunity to see it dropped in for himself; whereupon the 
voter shall at once withdraw from the room to the distance 
hereinafter prescribed. The sheriff of the precinct shall 
enforce the provision limiting the voter's stay in the com- 



120 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

partment, and requiring his immediate withdrawal after 
voting. 

Sec. 13. (Provision for preserving the ballot of one 
who claims to vote upon a name already voted upon.) 

Sec. 14. (Closing the polls and counting the ballots.) 
The ballots on which questions are raised by one of the 
judges, or which are rejected, the ballots counted as valid, 
those marked " voted on before," and the spoiled ballots, 
shall all be put in separate sealed packages, and the num- 
ber and description of ballots indorsed upon each package. 
The officers of each precinct shall return these packages, 
together with the stub-book, to the Mayor on the night 
following the election. . . . 

Sec. 15. (Form of return for election officers.) 
Sec. 16. (Provisions relating to the choice of election 
officers, and their duties.) 
(s) Sec. 17. The following persons and no other (s) shall 

s.Aukr., §59; be permitted to remain in the room in which the election 
Gt. e Br S , b!§ 5 21; is neld > witn tne judges, sheriff, and clerk : One agent of 
n^y' 6 20- eacn can didate who has been named in writing by the can- 
and Note i, didate as the only, or as one of two agents for such pre- 
cinct: Provided such writing has been deposited, before 
the opening of the polls, with the clerk of the election, 
who shall set down the name of such agent, and that of 
the candidate he represents, in the stub-book before the 
voting begins. These agents have the right to challenge 
persons offering to vote, but are not allowed to persuade, 
influence, or intimidate any one in the choice of his can- 
didate, or to attempt doing so, nor shall they go forward 
and backward between the polls and those awaiting their 
turn. 

Sec. 18. The voting-places at all elections under this 
act shall be so arranged as to leave a clear space of fifty 
feet between the room or inclosure in which the voting is 
done and those waiting their turn to vote, or other persons 
present at such election ; and the sheriff of election and 
the police stationed at said precinct shall keep all persons, 
except the officers of the election, those voting at the time, 



KENTUCKY. 121 

and the candidates or agents of candidates hereinabove 
mentioned, at that distance from the room or inclosure. 

Sec. 19. Any policeman who fails to keep all persons 
at the lawful distance from the room or inclosure as here- 
inabove provided . . . shall thereby vacate his office as 
policeman, and it shall be the duty of the Mayor to dismiss 
him at once from the force. 

Sec. 20. . . . Subsect. 6. Any officer of election who 
gives any information as to any one's vote, which he has 
obtained in the course of or by color of his office, except 
when compelled to do so in the course of a judicial investi- 
gation, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on con- 
viction, pay a fine of not less than fifty nor more than one 
hundred dollars for each offence. 

. . . Subsect. 8. Any judge or sheriff of an election who 
corruptly and falsely declares a voter to be blind, under 
section ten of this act, shall be liable to the penalties 
imposed upon officers of election by subsection 6 of this 
section for the acts therein denounced. 

. . . Subsect. 10. Any judge, sheriff, or clerk of an elec- 
tion, who . •. . shall unlawfully accompany or follow any 
voter into a compartment, shall be deemed guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and subject to like fine and imprisonment, and 
shall be declared incapable of serving as an officer of elec- 
tion, or as agent or representative of a candidate at the 
polls, for three years from the date of the sentence. 

. . . Subsect. 11-25. (Further penalties imposed for 
bribery, etc.) 

. . . Subsect. 26. Irregularities or defects (t) in the (t) 
mode of convening, holding, or conducting an election Q' uee u n s s . r § 85 . ; 
under this act shall constitute no defence to a prosecution and Note \2 ; 
for a violation of its provisions. P* 64 - 

Secs. 21-28. (Miscellaneous provisions , corrupt prac- 
tices, tribunals for contesting an election, etc.) 



VII. NEW YOEK. 



(a) 

For the differ- 
ences between 
this act and 
the bill now 
pending, see 
Appendix I. 



AN ACT TO MORE FULLY SECURE THE INDEPENDENCE OF 
ELECTORS AND THE SECRECY OF THE BALLOT. (1888.) (a) 

The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate 
and Assembly, do enact as follows : 

Section 1. All ballots cast in elections for public offi- 
cers within this State shall be printed and distributed at 
public expense, as hereinafter provided. The printing of 
ballots and cards of instruction for the electors in each 
county, and the delivery of the same to the election offi- 
cers, as provided in Section 18 of this act, shall be a 
county charge, the payment of which shall be provided 
for in the same manner as the payment of other county 
expenses. 

Sect. 2. Any convention, as hereinafter defined, held 
for the purpose of making nominations to public office, 
and also electors to the number hereinafter specified, may 
nominate candidates for public offices to be filled by elec- 
tion within the State. A convention, within the meaning 
of this act, is an organized assemblage of delegates repre- 
senting a political party which at the last election before 
the holding of such convention polled at least three per 
cent of the entire vote cast in the State, county, or other 
division or district for which the nomination is made. 

Sect. 3. All nominations made by any such convention 
shall be certified as follows : The certificate of nomination, 
which shall be in writing, shall contain the name of each 
person nominated, his residence, and the office for which 
he is nominated, and shall designate the party or principle 
which such convention represents. It shall be signed by 
the presiding officer and secretary of such convention, 



NEW YORK. 123 

who shall add to their signatures their respective places of 
residence, and acknowledge the same before an officer 
duly authorized to take acknowledgments. A certificate 
of such acknowledgment shall be appended to said in- 
strument. 

Sect. 4. Certificates of nomination shall be filed with 
the Secretary of State (a') for the nomination of candidates ( a r ) 
for offices to be filled by the electors of the entire State, s Ia lustr 6 5 48- 
or of any district or division of a greater extent than one 9? e< L ns '' P § s 4 o ; 
county. For all other nominations to public offices, cer- D, §1 (3); 
tificates of nomination shall be filed with the clerks (a') Ky.,'§2. 
of the respective counties wherein the offices are to be 
filled by the electors. The certificate of nomination for 
Assemblyman in the counties of Fulton and Hamilton 
shall be filed in the office of the County Clerk of Hamilton 
County, and a copy thereof certified by said County Clerk 
of Hamilton County shall be filed in the office of the 
County Clerk of Fulton County. 

Sect. 5. A candidate for public office may be nomi- 
nated otherwise than by a convention in the manner fol- 
lowing : A certificate of nomination containing the name 
of the candidate to be nominated, with the other informa- 
tion required to be given in the certificates provided for in 
Section 3 of this act, shall be signed by electors residing 
within the district or political division for which candi- 
dates are to be presented, equal in number (&) to at least (b) 
one per cent of the entire vote cast at the last preceding s.Austr., § 48 
election in the State, county, or other division or district q^bt!' 'a §i 
for which the nomination is to be made, provided, how- £?'£•> §§ ! ° 6 > 

* loo; 

ever, that the number of signatures so required shall not Ky., §2; and 

Note 2 p. 53 

exceed one thousand when the nomination is for an office 
to be filled by the electors of the entire State, and shall 
not exceed one hundred when the election is for an office 
to be filled by the electors of a county, district, or other 
division less than the State in extent, and provided also 
that the said signatures need not all be appended to one 
paper. Such a certificate, when made as above prescribed, 
may be filed as provided for in Section 4 of this act, with 



124 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

the same effect as a certificate of nomination made by a 
party convention. 

Sect. 6. No certificate of nomination shall contain the 
name of more than one candidate for each office to be 
filled. No person shall join in nominating more than one 
nominee for each office to be filled ; and no person shall 
accept a nomination to more than one office. 

Sect. 7. The Secretary of State shall cause to be pre- 
served in his office all certificates of nomination filed 
therein under the provisions of this act, and each county 
clerk shall cause to be preserved in his office all certificates 
of nomination filed therein under the provisions of this 
act. 

Sect. 8. Certificates of nomination, filed with the 
Secretary of State, shall be filed not more than sixty 

(c) days and not less than twenty days (c) before the day 
S.Austr., §46; fixed by the law for the election of the persons in nomi- 
Queens., §§ 48 > nation. Certificates of nomination herein directed to be 
?MN?',it 4, filed with the clerk of the county shall be filed not 

14, D, § 1 (3); , J 

Beig., §105; more than sixty and not less than fifteen days (c) before 
election. 

Sect. 9. Not less than eighteen days before an election 
to fill any public office, the Secretary of State shall certify ' 
to the County Clerk of each county within which any of 
the electors may by law vote for candidates for such office, 
the names and the description of each person nominated 
for such office, as specified in the certificates of nomina- 
tion filed with the Secretary of State. 

Sect. 10. At least seven days before an election to fill 
any public office, the County Clerk of each county shall 

(d) cause to be published (d~) in at least two newspapers 
15; ' within the county, the nominations to office certified to 
Queens!",''§§ 50,' mm by the Secretary of State, and also those filed with 
Gt! Br. b § 9 ^ ne County Clerk. He shall make not less than two such 
B ' i^ "* s 3 ii2 P u t>lications in each of such newspapers before election. 
Ky., § 5. One of such publications in each newspaper shall be upon 

the last day upon which such newspaper is issued before 
election. Such publication shall be made in two news- 



NEW YORK. 125 

papers, representing the political parties that at the last 
preceding election cast the largest and next largest num- 
ber of votes ; the list of nominations published by the 
county clerks of the respective counties shall be arranged, 
as far as practicable, in the order and form in which they 
will be printed upon the ballot. 

Sect. 11. The Secretary of State shall not certify the 
name of a candidate whose certificate of nomination shall 
have been filed in his office, who shall have notified him in 
a writing signed and executed with the formalities pre- 
scribed for the execution of an instrument to entitle it to 
record, that he will not accept (e) the nomination con- (e) 
tained in the certificate of nomination. The County Clerk Queens , §'54; 
shall not include in the publication to be made according D^i^f ' ^ *' 
to Section 10 hereof the name of any candidate whose 
certificate of nomination shall have been filed in his office 
who shall have notified him in like manner that he will 
not accept the nomination. The names of such candi- 
dates shall not be included in the names of the candidates 
to be printed in the ballots as hereinafter provided. 

Sect. 12. Whenever a proposed constitutional amend- 
ment or other question is to be submitted to the people 
of the State for popular vote, the Secretary of State shall 
duly, and not less than thirty days before election, certify 
the same to the clerk of each county of the State, and the 
clerk of each county shall include the same in the publi- 
cation provided for in Section ten of this act. 

Sect. 13. Except as in this act otherwise provided, it 
shall be the duty of the County Clerk of each county to 
provide printed ballots for every election for public officers 
in which electors or any of the electors within the county 
participate, and to cause to be printed in the appropriate 
ballot the name of every candidate whose name has been 
certified to, or filed with the County Clerk in the manner 
provided for in this act. Ballots, other than those printed 
by the respective county clerks according to the provisions 
of this act, shall not be cast or counted (f) in any election. £/) 

v,/ J J See infra, § 28, 

Nothing in this act contained shall prevent any voter from note. 



126 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

( g ) writing upon his ballot (#) the name of any person for 

Ky!, S § I j 1 and whom he desires to vote for any office, and such vote shall 
Note 16, p. 66. fo e counted the same as if printed upon the ballot. 

Sect. 14. Except as otherwise provided in this act, 
every ballot printed as herein prescribed shall be printed 
in accordance with the existing provisions of law. All 
ballots shall contain the name of every candidate whose 
nomination for any office specified in the ballot has been 
certified to and filed according to the provisions of this 
act, and no other name. The names of candidates nomi- 
(h) nated by each party shall be grouped together (A) upon 

TVJo eg £ 1 Q • 

s. Aii'str., §55; the proper ballot, and each group shall be headed by the 
Gt*. e Br^B, § 2&, name of the political party by which the candidates com- 
Bei| 1 |§ii4 prising said group were placed in nomination as described 
\} b > . , , in the certificates of nomination. There shall be a margin 

Ky., § 4, and . , 

Note 4, p. 55. on each side, at least half an inch wide, and a reasonable 
space between the names to be printed thereon, so that 
the voter may clearly indicate, in the way to be hereafter 
pointed out, the candidate or candidates for whom he 
wishes to cast his ballot. 

Sect. 15. Whenever the Secretary of State has duly 
certified to any County Clerk any question to bS sub- 
mitted to a vote of the people, the County Clerk shall 
prepare and distribute ballots of such form as will enable 
the electors to vote upon the question in the manner 
hereinafter provided. 

Sect. 16. The County Clerk of each county shall pro- 
vide for each election district in the county one hundred 
ballots of each kind to be voted in the district, for every 
(i) fifty or fraction of fifty electors (i) registered at the last 

s^Tu'stVl 56 ; preceding election in the district. If there is no registry 
Ky?r§ 8 3. § 58 ' in the district > the County Clerk shall provide ballots 
to the number of one hundred for every fifty or fraction 
of fifty electors who voted at the last election in the 
district. 

Sect. 17. Whenever it shall appear by affidavit that 
an error or omission has occurred in the publication of 
the names or description of the candidates nominated 



NEW YORK. 127 

for office, or in the printing of the ballots, the Supreme 
Court of the State may upon application by any elector, 
by order, require the County Clerk to correct such error, 
or to show cause why such error should not be corrected. 

Sect. 18. Before the opening of the polls at any elec- 
tion of public officers within any county, the County 
Clerk of the county shall cause to be delivered to the 
board of inspectors of election of each election district 
which is within the county, and in which the election is 
to be held, at the polling-place of the district, the proper 
number of ballots of each kind to be used in the district. 

Sect. 19. At the same time, and in the same manner, 
as inspectors of election are appointed or elected, two 
ballot clerks for each election district in the State shall 
be appointed or elected, whose duty it shall be to have 
charge of the ballots, and to furnish them to the voters 
in the manner hereinafter provided ; such ballot clerks 
shall possess the same qualifications as inspectors of elec- 
tion. No elector shall vote for more than one person for 
said office of ballot clerk at the same time, and no political 
party shall nominate more than one person for that office. 
The two persons in each election district, when inspectors 
of election are elected, who shall receive the highest and 
next highest number of votes for the office, shall serve as 
such at all elections except town-meetings to be held 
therein during the ensuing year ; whenever inspectors of 
election are not elected but appointed, such ballot clerks 
shall be appointed, and their appointment certified at the 
same time and in the same manner as is now provided 
for in the case of inspectors ; but in making such appoint- 
ments one of the ballot clerks in each election district 
shall be taken from the political party that polled the 
largest number of votes at the last preceding election, 
and the other from the party that polled the next largest 
number. 

Sect. 20. Except in the City and County of New York, 
all officers upon whom is imposed by law the duty of 
designating polling-places shall provide in each polling- 



128 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

(j) place designated by them (,/) a sufficient number of 

s.Tilstr. § 54 ; places, booths, or compartments, which shall be furnished 
Gt! e Br!,B 5 ' with such supplies and conveniences as shall enable the 
Beiff §ii7- voter conveniently to prepare his ballot for voting and 
Ky-,§8; in which electors may mark their ballots, screened from 

and Note 5, p. -i i m 

58. observation, and a guard-rail so constructed that only per- 
sons within such rail can approach within five feet of the 
ballot-boxes or the places or compartments herein provided 
for. The number of such places or compartments shall not 

(&) be less than one for every seventy-five electors ( Jc) who vot- 

Mass. 8 21* 

Queens., §'59; ed at the last preceding election in the district. No person 
§i' 6 . r '' ' other than electors engaged in receiving, preparing, or 
K e ! s *'A 118 ' depositing their ballots shall be permitted to be within 
(/) said rail (7) except by authority of the inspectors of elec- 

lTustrfs/59; tions - In the Cit y and County of New York the Chief 
9 ue g" s -' B § 59 ' of the Bureau of Elections shall provide such places or 
§ 21 ; compartments and guard-rails. The expense of providing 

Ky°§i7 ; ' such places or compartments and guard-rails shall be a 

'I I id N"OTE 1 T) 

52. ' public charge, and shall be provided for in each town and 

city in the same manner as the other election expenses. 
On or before the 1st day of January, 1889, and every year 
thereafter, the officers of the several cities and towus now 
charged by law with the division or alteration of election 
districts, shall as far as necessary, alter or divide the ex- 
isting election districts in such a manner that each election 
district shall contain not more than three hundred voters ; 
and such division or alteration shall take effect immedi- 
ately. Except as in this section otherwise provided, 
such division or alteration shall be subject to the existing 
provisions of law. 
Mass., § 22; Sect. 21. On any day of election of public officers in any 

iv.; UStr *' 58 ' election district, each qualified elector shall be entitled to re- 
Gt e Br S 'B 71; ce i ye f rom the ballot clerks one ballot for each of the offices 
§ 5 ,°; . for which the elector desires to vote. It shall be the duty 

Belg., § 123 ; . J 

Ky., § 7; of such ballot clerks (m) to deliver such ballots to the elector. 

59. x ' P Before delivering any ballot to an elector the two ballot 
Mass 8 io- c l er ^ s shall write their names or initials (n) upon the back 
S. Austr., § 57; of the ballot, immediately under the printed indorsement. 



NEW YORK. 129 

Sect. 22. On receipt of his ballots the elector shall Queens., § 71 ; 
forthwith, and without leaving the polling-place, retire § 2, b,'§2<1; 
alone to one of the places, booths, or compartments pro- f 5 e j?" ^ 123 ' 
vided to prepare his ballots. He shall prepare his ballots ^']§|* E 7' p 
by marking a cross (0) before or after the name of the 59- 
person or persons for whom he intends to vote — thus, X ; (0) 
or in case of a ballot containing a constitutional amend- s. Austr., §'58, 
ment or a question to be submitted to the vote of the Queens., § 73 ; 
people, by crossing out therefrom parts of the ballot in ^ 2 \ ^ §"25, 
such a manner that the remaining part shall express his pj r e' c ^™ f ° f r 
vote upon the question submitted. After preparing his I * 6 * 8 '!' 
ballots, the elector shall fold each of them so that the face b, f i; ' 
of the ballot will be concealed, and so that the printed andNoTE 9, p. 
indorsement and the signatures and initials of the ballot- ' 
clerks thereon may be seen. He shall then vote forthwith 
and before leaving the polling-place. 

Provided, however, that any elector who desires to vote 
for an entire group may mark a cross as above described 
before or after the political organization of such group (0), 
and shall then be deemed to have voted for all the persons 
named in such group. 

Sect. 23. Not more than one person shall be permitted 
to occupy any one booth at one time ; and no person shall 
remain in or occupy a booth longer than may be necessary 
to prepare his ballot, and in no event longer than five 
minutes (p). (p) 

Mass 6 23 • 

Sect. 24. Any voter who shall by accident or mistake k^, § 12. 
spoil his ballot (0) so that he cannot conveniently vote the (?) 

r K * y J Mass., §24; 

same, may, on returning said spoiled ballot to the ballot s. Austr., § 58, 
clerks and satisfying them that such spoiling was not Gt. Br., B, 
intentional, receive another in place thereof. Every elec-| e ] g '. ? § 12 5 ; 
tor who does not vote any ballot delivered to him, shall, K ^-' § 9 - 
before leaving the polling-place, return such ballot to the 
ballot clerks having charge of the ballots. 

Sect. 25. Any elector who declares under oath to the 
ballot clerks that he cannot read or write, or that by , . 
reason of physical disability he is unable to mark his Mass., § 25; 
ballots (r), may declare his choice of candidates to either vii.; 

9 



130 



AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 



Queens., § 73 ; 
Gt. Br., B, § 26 : 
Belg., § 123; 
Ky., § 10; 
and Note 8, 
p. 61. 



Ante, § 13 ; 
Mass., §26; 
S.Austr., §64 
Queens., § 76; 
Gt. Br., A, §2 
Belg., §§ 124, 
147; 

Ky., §11; 
and Note 10, 
p. 63. 



of the ballot clerks, who, in the presence of the elector, 
shall prepare the ballots for voting in the manner herein- 
before provided ; or such elector, after making such oath, 
may require one of such ballot clerks to read to him the 
contents of the ballot, so that the elector can ascertain 
the relative position of the names of the candidates on 
each ballot, whereupon the elector shall retire to one of 
the places, booths, or compartments provided, to prepare 
his ballots in the manner hereinbefore provided. 

Sect. 26. No inspector of election shall deposit any 
ballot upon which the names or initials of the ballot clerks 
as hereinbefore provided for does not appear. 

Sect. 27. The County Clerk of each county shall cause 
to be printed in large type on cards in English and in such 
other languages as he deems necessary, instructions for 
the guidance of electors in preparing their ballots. He 
shall furnish twelve such cards, each printed in all the 
languages determined upon by him, to the board of inspec- 
tors of elections in each election district, at the same time 
and in the same manner as the printed ballots. The board 
of inspectors of elections shall post not less than one of 
such cards in each place or compartment provided for the 
preparation of ballots, and not less than three of such 
cards elsewhere in and about the polling-place upon the 
day of election. Said cards shall be printed in large, clear 
type, and shall contain full instructions to the voters as 
to what should be done, (1) to obtain ballots for voting ; 

(2) to prepare the ballots for deposit in the ballot-boxes ; 

(3) to obtain a new ballot in the place of one acciden- 
tally spoiled ; also a copy of Sections 30 and 32 of this act. 

Sect. 28. In the canvass of the votes, any ballot which 
is not endorsed by the names or initials of the ballot 
clerks, as provided in this act, shall be void and shall not 
be counted (s), and any ballot or parts of a ballot from 
which it is impossible to determine the elector's choice 
shall be void and shall not be counted (s). Such ballots 
shall be treated and preserved in the same manner as 
defective ballots. 



NEW YORK. 131 

Sect. 29. No person shall (1) falsely make, or fraudu- 
lently deface, or fraudulently destroy any certificate of s 
nomination, or any part thereof; or (2) file any certificate 
of nomination knowing the same or any part thereof to be 
falsely made ; or (3) suppress any certificate of nomina- 
tion which has been duly filed, or any part thereof; or (4) 
forge or falsely make the official endorsement on any 
ballot. Every person Violating any of the provisions of 
this section shall be deemed guilty of a felony. 

Sect. 30. No person shall, during the election, remove 
or destroy any of the supplies or other conveniences placed 
in the booths as aforesaid for the purpose of enabling the 
voter to prepare his ballot. No person shall, during an 
election, remove, tear down, or deface, the cards printed 
for the instruction of voters. Every person wilfully vio- 
lating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sect. 31. Every public officer upon whom any duty 
is imposed by this act, who shall wilfully neglect or omit 
to perform such duty (£), shall be deemed guilty of a mis- (t) 
demeanor; and upon conviction thereof shall be punished s.Tustr., §85. 
by imprisonment in the county jail or penitentiary for a GtBrf'k. §11- 
term of not less than six months and not more than three an ^ Note 11, 

p. 04. 

years, or by a fine of not less than two hundred and fifty 
dollars, and not more than three thousand dollars, or by 
both such fine and imprisonment. 

Sect. 32. No officer of election shall disclose to any 
person the name of any candidate for whom any elector 
has voted. No officer of election shall do any election- 
eering on election day. No person whatever shall do any 
electioneering on election day within any polling-place, 
or within one hundred feet of any polling-place. No per- 
son shall remove any ballot from any polling-place before 
the closing of polls. No person shall apply for or receive 
any ballot in any polling-place other than that in which 
he is entitled to vote. No person shall show his ballot 
after it is marked to any person in such a way as to reveal 
the contents thereof or the name of the candidate or can- 



132 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

didates for whom he has marked his vote, nor shall any 
person (except an inspector of election) receive, from any 
voter, a ballot prepared by him for voting, or examine 
such ballot, or solicit the voter to show the same. No 
person shall ask another at a polling-place for whom he 
intends to vote. No voter shall receive a ballot from any 
other person than one of the ballot clerks, nor shall any 
person other than a ballot clerk deliver a ballot to such 
voter. No voter shall deliver any ballot to the inspectors 
to be voted except such as he has received from a ballot 
clerk. No voter shall place any mark upon his ballot by 
which it may be afterward identified as the one voted by 
him. Whoever shall violate any provision of this section 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sect. 33. All the provisions of this act relating to 
County Clerks shall apply in the City and County of New 
York to the Chief of the Bureau of Elections, and not 
to the County Clerk. Such provisions shall apply in the 
City of Brooklyn to the Board of Elections, and not to 
the County Clerk of Kings County. 

Sect. 34. This act shall not apply to elections for town 
and village officers in towns and villages where there is 
no provision by law for the registration of electors, nor 
to elections for public officers determined otherwise than 
by ballot. 

Sect. 35. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with 
the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. 

Sect. 36. This act shall take effect January one, eigh- 
teen hundred and eighty-nine. 1 

1 It was vetoed by the Governor. 



VIII. 

THE AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM AS EMBODIED 
IN THE STATUTES OF TASMANIA, NEW ZEA- 
LAND, NEW SOUTH WALES, VICTORIA, WEST 
AUSTRALIA, THE DOMINION OF CANADA, THE 
PROVINCES OF ONTARIO AND OF QUEBEC, 
WISCONSIN, THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEM- 
BOURG, ITALY, NORWAY, ETC. 



A. Tasmania. 
Parliamentary Elections Act, 1858 (21 Vict. No. 32). 

The following are the special features of the Tasmanian 

legislation : — 

By § 62, any two electors may nominate a candidate. 

By § 61, the ballots are required to be signed or stamped 
on the back by the Clerk of the Peace, who distributes 
them to the various Returning Officers ; and upon their 
receipt by the latter they are again stamped or countersigned 
before being distributed to voters. 

By § 69, the voter is required to express his vote by 
striking out the names of all candidates other than those 
for whom he intends to vote. 

By § 71, provision is made for rendering assistance, in 
marking the ballot, to those only who are blind. 

In other respects no notable variation is found in the 
system in use in Tasmania. In the Rural Municipalities 
Act, 1865 (29 Vict. No. 8), the parliamentary provisions 
are adopted without material difference. 



134 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

B. New Zealand. 

Regulation of Elections Act, 1881 (45 Vict. No. 12). 

This Act, applying only to elections for Representatives 
to the General Assembly, supersedes, for such elections, 
the Regulation of Elections Act, 1870 (33-34 Vict. No. 
18), which, for the election of members of the Provincial 
Councils and of Provincial Superintendents, apparently is 
still in force. The later Act makes several changes, evi- 
dently intended as improvements called for by experience. 
The provisions to be noticed are as follows : — 

By § 12, a candidate must be proposed by one elector, 
and seconded by another. 

By § 30, the method of identifying the official ballot is 
to be as follows : the Returning Officer writes upon the 
back of the ballot his initials, and upon the lower left-hand 
corner of the ballot, on the back, the registered number 
of the voter, and " after securing the said corner hj gum 
or otherwise," stamps upon it the official mark. 

The original method employed in the earlier Act con- 
sisted in stamping the official mark on the back of the 
ballot, and placing near the lower edge, on the back, the 
registered number of the voter or some other identifying 
mark. Secrecy was provided for by forbidding the exam- 
ination of the backs of ballots while counting ; but appar- 
ently this regulation had failed to attain its object. 

By § 33, " if any voter desires it, the Returning Officer, 
and, if necessary, an interpreter," are to retire to one of 
the compartments with the voter, and mark the ballot ac- 
cording to his instructions. 

Under the earlier Act, the corresponding provision lim- 
ited the right to give such assistance to the specific cases 
of blindness and inability to read. 

By § 32, the vote is to be expressed by striking out the 
names of candidates not voted for. 



VICTORIA. — NEW SOUTH WALES. 135 

C. Victoria. 

Electoral Act, 1865 (No. 279). 

The important variations of the Victorian system are 
as follows : — 

Nomination-papers are to be signed by ten electors. As 
in Queensland, a deposit — £50 or £100, according to the 
office — is required at the time of nomination, to be re- 
turned if the candidate withdraws or receives one-fifth of 
the number of votes received by the successful candidate. 
The period between the days of nomination and election is 
to be from 3 to 14 days. 

The vote is expressed by striking out from the list of 
names all except those for whom the vote is cast. The 
method of identifying the official ballot is to place upon 
the ballot, before the voting begins, the signature or the 
initials of the Returning Officer ; the registered number of 
the voter is also placed on the back of the ballot, and the 
officers are forbidden, in counting, to examine the back of 
the ballot. 

D. New South Wales. 

Elections Act, 1880 (44 Vict. No. 13) ; Municipalities Act, 
1867 (31 Vict. No. 12). 

The editor has not been able to obtain a copy of these 
statutes for examination, and cannot state their provisions 
in detail. They follow, however, the general plan of the 
kindred Australian statutes. Nominations (in municipal 
elections) must be handed in 7 days at least before the 
day of election; the ballots must be signed by the poll- 
clerk ; and the vote is expressed by striking out the names 
of candidates not voted for. 



136 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

E. West Australia. 

Ballot Act, 1877 (41 Vict. No. 15). 

This Act applies only to elections for the Legislature. 
The provisions to be noted are as follows : — 

By § 4, a nomination-paper is required to contain the 
names of 6 electors, and to be accompanied by a deposit 
of .£25, returnable as provided in the Queensland Act, 
ante. 

By § 5, II., the ballot is to have a counterfoil attached, 
and a number is written or printed on the back of the 
ballot, the same number being written or printed on the 
face of the counterfoil. 

By § 9, the vote is required to be expressed " by making 
a cross or other mark " within the square opposite the 
name. In the " Directions to Voters," however, the di- 
rection declares absolutely that the voter " will place a 
cross," etc. 

By § 9, the Returning Officer's initials are to be placed 
on the back of the ballot before delivery to the voter, and 
the voter's name is to be written on the counterfoil. 

By § 14, the Returning Officer is to reject, at the count- 
ing, any ballot " on which is written any matter or thing 
which is not justified by this Act to be written thereon," 
or in which votes are cast for more candidates than are to 
be voted for. In the "Directions for Voters," it is also 
stated (though no section of the Act appears to authorize 
it) that " any mark by which the voter may be afterwards 
identified" will invalidate the ballot. 

There is no provision authorizing assistance to be ren- 
dered to any class of voters. 



DOMINION OF CANADA. 137 

F. Dominion of Canada. 

Dominion Elections Act, 1874 (37 Vict. c. 9), as amended 
by 41 Vict. c. 6 (1878). 

The important provisions to be noticed in this Act, which 
is one of the best conceived among the various statutes 
dealing with the subject, are as follows : — 

By § 18, any 25 electors may nominate a candidate. 

By § 19, the nomination-paper must contain the con- 
sent in writing of the person nominated, unless he is 
absent from the Province in which the election is to be 
held. 

By § 19, the sum of 50 dollars must be paid to the 
Returning Officer at the time of handing in the nomination- 
paper. 

By § 43, and by § 3 of the amending Act, the ballot- 
paper is to have a detachable counterfoil, as shown by 
Form (1), infra, with the counterfoil attached. At the 
time of delivering the ballot to the intending voter, the 
Returning Officer places his initials upon the back of 
the ballot, and the registered number of the voter upon 
the counterfoil. When the ballot has been marked by the 
voter, and is presented for deposit in the ballot-box, the 
Returning Officer, by noting his initials upon the back of 
the ballot, and the number upon the counterfoil, is enabled 
to identify the ballot as an official one, and also to know 
that the ballot is presented by the same voter to whom it 
was originally given out. Before the ballot is deposited, 
the officer detaches and destroys the counterfoil. 

It is to be noted that, by § 2 of the amending Act, the 
use of an envelope, in which, by § 43 of the original Act, 
the ballot was required to be placed, is abandoned. 

By § 6 of the amending Act, the voter is to "mark his 
ballot, marking a cross with a pencil on any part of the 
ballot-paper within the division containing the name of 
the candidate for whom he intends to vote." In the 
original Act (§ 45), the method was to mark " a cross on 



138 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

the right-hand side opposite the name of" the desired 
candidate. But to obviate the possibility of the irregular 
methods of marking which voters were found now and 
then to employ, the margin on the left of the names and 
the upright dividing line on the right were discarded, and 
the ballot was printed in the shape shown in Form (1), 
infra, probably the best form now in use. This led to the 
change in the wording of § 45 of the original Act. 

By § 48, official assistance may be rendered to voters 
" unable to read, or incapacitated by blindness or other 
physical cause " from voting in the prescribed manner. 

By § 55, the void ballots are to include, besides those 
containing votes for more candidates than are to be elected, 
all ballots " not similar to those supplied by the Deputy 
Returning Officer," and all those upon which there is 
any writing or mark " by which the voter could be 
identified." 

By § 80, it is provided, as in the English statute, that 
no informality shall vitiate the election, if the principles of 
the Act have been followed, and if the result of the elec- 
tion has not been affected. 



DOMINION OP CANADA. 



139 



Form 1. Ballot-Paper. 



Election fob the Electoral District of 



, 18 



DOE. 
I. John Doe, Township of Nepean, 
County of Carleton, Yeoman. 



ROE. 
II. Richard Roe, of the town of Prescott, 
County of Grenville, Merchant. 



STILES. 
III. Geoffrey Stiles, of 10 Sparks St., 
Ottawa, Physician. 



STILES. 
IV. John Stiles, of 3 Elgin St., 
Ottawa, Barrister-at-Law. 





(Counterfoil.) 



140 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

G. Quebec. 

Quebec Elections Act, 1875 (38 Vict. c. 7), as amended by 
39 Vict. c. 13 (1875) and 46 Vict. c. 2 (1883). 

The points essential to be noticed are : — 

By § 105, a candidate may be nominated by 25 electors. 

By § 106, the candidate's consent in writing is necessary 
unless he is absent. 

By § 166, the identification of the ballot is secured by 
requirements as to initials, counterfoils, etc., similar to the 
requirements of the Dominion Act (1878) already described. 
The Quebec Act (1875) was, in fact, the earlier of the two, 
and apparently inspired the Dominion amendment of 1878. 
Its details, however, are different and better in this respect: 
the counterfoil, or " annex," as it is called, is printed upon 
the back of the ballot (see Form (2), infra), so that in the 
operation of verifying and detaching the annex, the back 
of the ballot is presented to the officer, and its face is not 
liable to be exposed to view. 

By § 170, the voter is to " mark his ballot-paper, mark- 
ing a cross or other mark on the right-hand side, opposite 
the name of" the desired candidate. But by § 17 of the 
amending Act of 1875, the words " or other mark " were 
omitted, and a pencil was required to be used. 

By § 190, the validity of ballots is to be determined by 
rules similar to those of the Dominion Act. 

By § 222, a provision similar to that of the English Act 
declares that mere informalities shall not invalidate the 
election. 



QUEBEC. 



141 



Form 2. Ballot-Paper. 



DUREAU. 

(Jean Dureau, town of Sorel, County of 
Richelieu, Merchant.) 



MEUNIER. 

(Joseph Meunier, city of Montreal, 10 
Fontaine St., Montreal.) 



H 



RICHARD. 

(Antoine Richard, of the parish of St. 
Henri, County of Levis, Farmer.) 



RICHARD. 

(Joseph Richard, of the town and 
county of Levis, Advocate.) 




142 



AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 



Reverse of Form 2. 



3 



>3 « 

3 "a. 



^3 
O 
J3 




S o 



ONTARIO. 143 

H. Ontario. 

Elections (Act Ontario Revised Statutes, 1887, c. 9). 

The Ballot Act of Great Britain is followed in substance, 
but the following provisions may be noted : — 

By § 48, a nomination may be made by a single elector, 
and if at the time and place of nomination a poll is de- 
manded by any elector, it is to be granted. 

By § 63 (3), " the numbers and names of every candi- 
date shall, if practicable, be distinctly printed in ink of 
different colors," the candidates selecting the colors on the 
day of nomination, or the Returning Officer assigning them 
in case of disagreement. 

By § 90 (7), the English method of identifying the bal- 
lot is in substance adopted; a number is previously stamped 
on the back of the ballot and on the face of the counterfoil; 
the voter's registered number is placed on the counterfoil 
at the time of delivering the ballot, and the officer's name 
or initials are stamped or signed (signed only, by the 
original Act of 1874, c. 5) on the back of the ballot and 
on the counterfoil. 

By § 91, the vote is to be expressed " by placing a cross 
thus X on the right-hand side, opposite the name of the 
candidate for whom he desires to vote, or at any other -place 
ivithin the division which contains the name of such candi- 
date." The words in italics were for the first time inserted 
in the revision of 1887. They are intended, however, not 
to change the method of marking (for the "Directions to 
Voters" still require the mark to be "at the right-hand 
side " only), but to save the votes of those whose mark 
is not formally made. 

The provisions of the Municipal Act (Rev. Stat. 1887, c. 
184), applying the same system to municipal elections, are 
substantially the same as those of the Elections Act, except 
that in the ballot the use of counterfoils and of colors is 
discarded. A form of the ballot used in municipal elec- 
tions is given below as Form (3). 

By § 205, no mere informality is to vitiate the election 
(as in the English Act). 



144 



AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 



Form 3. Ballot-Paper. 



>4 






O 



BROWN. 
(John Brown, of the village of 
Weston, Merchant.) 



ROBINSON. 

(George Robinson, of the village of 
Weston, Physician.) 



ARMOUR. 
(Jacob Armour, of the village of 
Weston, Pumpmaker.) 



BOYD. 
(Zachary Boyd, of the village of 
Weston, Tinsmith.) 



BULL. 

(John Bull, of the village of Weston, 
Butcher.) 



JONES. 
(Morgan Jones, of the village of 
Weston, Grocer.) 



McAllister. 

(Alltster McAllister, of the vil- 
lage of Weston, Tailor.) 



O'CONNELL. 
(Patrick O'Connell, of the village 
of Weston, Milkman.) 






WISCONSIN. 145 

I. Wisconsin. 
Laws of 1887, eh. 350. 

By § 1, each voting precinct is to be provided with two 
adjoining rooms, a " ticket room " and an " inspectors' and 
voting; room." In the ticket room are to be tables or com- 
partments, on or in which the tickets " prepared for the 
use of voters by any political party " are to be kept, " each 
class or kind being placed and kept in a separate compart- 
ment or upon a separate table," and a notice being placed 
over each class stating " the name or title by which the 
tickets are respectively classified or generally known." 
" Any chairman of a ward committee, or other person 
authorized by the ward committee of each political party," 
may deliver the proper tickets to the inspectors of election, 
who are to arrange them on the tables. " Every voter 
when in the ticket room shall be at liberty to select from 
the ballots kept there such as he may wish, taking one of 
each kind if he pleases." 

For each table a custodian of tickets is to be appointed 
by the ward committee issuing the ticket. The custodians 
are to take an oath of office, and while inside the ticket 
room are not to " directly or indirectly solicit, request, or 
attempt to influence any voter " in respect to his vote. 
The custodians are to be paid the same fees as the clerks 
of election. A challenger is also appointed by each ward 
committee* and remains " in such convenient place to be 
designated by the inspectors," but outside the voting room, 
to challenge suspected votes. No undue advantage is to 
be given to any one of the challengers or custodians over 
his fellows. 

The voter is admitted into the ticket room, where he 
selects his ticket or tickets. Only one voter at a time is 
to be admitted, and none others than the custodians and a 
single voter shall be permitted to remain in the room. At 
the door between the two rooms is to be one police officer, 
and at the outer door of the ticket room is to be another. 

10 



146 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

The voter passes into the voting room, casts his ballot, and 
passes out through another door. r,\ 

No crowd is to be allowed within one hundred feet of 
either room during the election. No one shall solicit votes 
or offer tickets within the same limits. The mutilation, de- 
struction, and theft of tickets is forbidden, as well as all 
attempts to solicit or influence voters while within either 
room. A penalty is also imposed upon those who request 
or receive anything of value from a candidate for services 
rendered or to be rendered in or about any election. 

By § 2 the act is applied to all judicial and city elec- 
tions (except special elections). 1 

J. Luxembourg. 

(*) Annuaire Consolidated Election Act of March 5, 1884.* 

de l£g. Strang.. 

p . 592j°i884 This act unites into one the previous statutes relating to 
(vol. xiv.), p. elections, embodying and superseding the act of May 28, 
1879, relating to legislative elections, and for the first time 
applying the same system to municipal elections. In most 
respects the Belgian law is followed and adopted, with 
certain simplifications suitable for the smaller constituen- 
cies of Luxembourg. 

In legislative elections, nomination-papers are to be 
signed by five times as many electors as there are mem- 
bers to be elected, but in no case by less than ten. In 

1 The above act, while pointing in the direction of reform, has not 
established the two essential principles of improvement: (1) complete 
and compulsory secrecy in voting ; (2) a single ballot containing all 
the names printed and distributed by the state. Its provisions will 
doubtless abolish disorder and tumult at the polls, and intimidation 
by brute force; but it is as easy as before to ascertain which way a 
vote is cast, and thus very little is gained toward relieving the electors 
from other and equally effective means of control ; moreover, a bribe- 
taker can still prove his vote. Finally, the evils of the present nomi- 
nation system do not seem to be reached ; and several custodians of 
tickets at each precinct are added to the ranks of those who draw 
official pay for election services, and whose places add to the patronage 
under the control of local politicians. 



ITALY. 147 

municipal elections, the signatures of fifteen electors are 
necessary in the city of Luxembourg ; of five electors in 
towns of more than three thousand inhabitants; and in 
other towns, of three electors, among whom may be the 
candidates themselves. The voter is directed to mark a 
cross, and the ballot is to be folded square. Every ballot 
folded differently, or containing any mark that could iden- 
tify it, or containing a name other than those upon the 
official list, or more names than there are members to be 
elected, is void. 

K. Italy. 

Acts of Jan. 22 and May 7, 1882, published in one by royal 

decree of Sept. 24, 1882.* (*) Ann. dei^g. 

etrang., 1882 

The material provisions are as follows : — (vol. xii.), p. 

Title III. 

Art. 54. The election room shall be divided into two 
parts by a railing a metre or more in height, with an 
opening for passage from one part to the other. The 
voters shall remain during the voting in the outer portion ; 
in the other shall sit the election officers. The table of 
the officers shall be so placed that at the close of the 
voting the electors may surround it. The tables at which 
the ballots are to be filled out shall be isolated, and so 
placed as to insure secrecy in voting. 

Art. 59. The capital town of the district shall supply 
to the presiding election officers of the polling-places a 
municipal seal and a number of ballots of white (a) paper <„) rjntii this 
not less in number than the number of voters on the list bXt5»pS° ial 
of the polling-place. The use of any other ballots is for- had been b,ue - 
bidden. . . . 

Art. 63. As soon as the organization of the election 
officers has been recorded in the minutes of the proceed- 
ings, the name of one of the inspectors shall be drawn by 
lot, who shall sign on the back as many ballots as there are 
electors in the polling-district. As each ballot is signed, 
the presiding officer shall impress thereon the municipal 



148 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

seal referred to in art. 57, and shall place it in an urn of 
transparent glass. If the said inspector absents himself 
from the room, he shall sign no more ballots, and shall be 
replaced by another inspector similarly drawn by lot. The 
minutes shall record the names of the inspectors who sign 
the ballots and the number signed by each one. 

Art. 64. The presiding officer shall cause each elector 
to be called in the order of his name on the list, and, after 
identifying him, shall draw a ballot from the urn and de- 
liver it to him unfolded.- 

Art. 65. The elector who is called shall seat himself at 
one of the tables used for the purpose, and on the ballot 
which has been delivered to him shall write the names of 
the deputies for whom he wishes to vote. If the elector 
was a qualified voter before the passage of the present law 
(b) By this act, but i s unable to read and write (6), or if, through physical 
which em- incapacity, known by or proved to the election officers, he 

braces all mat- r •/ » j l ' 

ters relating to cannot write his ballot, he shall be allowed to have it writ- 

the elective 

franchise, one ten by another elector selected by himself, 
qualification's Art. 66. When the ballot is written, the voter shall 
reacfand write, deliver it folded to the presiding officer, who shall drop it 
into a second urn of transparent glass, placed on the table 
and visible to all. . . . 

Art. 69. Ballots shall not be counted which are with- 
out the signature and seal required by art. 63, or which 
contain anything that identifies or is intended to identify 
the voter. 

L. Norway. 
(*) Ann. de Act of July 1, 1884,* amending the Electoral Act of 1828. 

l£g. etrang., 

^ 8 62i V0l ' Xiv) ' Art. 2. . . . The electors shall be called in the order in 
which their names occur on the register. When the en- 
tire list has been called those who have not answered shall 
be called again ; whoever is not then present will lose his 

vote. 

Art. 3. . . . The presiding officer or some other elec- 
tion officer, shall deliver to each elector, when called, an 



AUSTRIA. — OTHER COUNTRIES. 149 

envelope marked with the official seal, and shall direct him 
to a secluded place in the polling-station, where, without 
being seen by any one, he shall place his ballot in the en- 
velope, a sufficient time being allowed for the purpose, and 
shall then drop it into an urn placed on the election table. 
Art. 4. The envelopes used shall be of the same size, 
form, and color, and not transparent. The election officers 
shall see, at the time the envelopes are dropped into the 
urn, that they bear no mark on the outside. The ballots 
placed in the envelopes shall be of white paper, without 
signature or mark appended. If an envelope or ballot 
does not fulfil the requirements of this act, the ballot shall 
be thrown out as void. If several ballots are found in one 
envelope, they shall all be void. 

M. 

Austria. 

By the law of April 2, 1873, at Austrian elections an 
official ballot paper is furnished the elector by the officers 
of election at the time of voting, and the voter retires to a 
secluded place and writes upon his ballot the name of the 
preferred candidate. 1 The editor is not aware that this 
provision is modelled upon the Australian method, and has 
no further information in detail as to the polling arrange- 
ments or other regulations. 

N. 
Other Countries. 

In several states certain features of electoral procedure 
are parallel to provisions of the Australian system, and 
merit a brief notice. 

In Hungary 2 nominations are open, and must be handed 

1 Charbonnier, " Organisation electorate de tous les pays civilises," 
p. 153. 

2 Charbonnier, p. 180. 



150 AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM. 

in to the officer of election at least half an hour before the 
opening of the polls. The vote, however, is not secret. 

In France intending candidates are required to register 
themselves as such by taking the candidate's oath (preter 
serment) before the proper officer a certain number of 
days previous to the election. The purpose of this, how- 
ever, in no respect resembles the principle of the Austra- 
lian system. The ballot in France is not an official one, 
containing the names of all candidates, but, as in this 
country, separate ballots are prepared by each party or 
candidate, and the oath-taking is a mere necessary form. 
Sir Charles Dilke relates 1 that it was a common joke in 
Paris to say, when departing in some direction, " I am 
on my way to my cafe, and am going to take the oath as a 
candidate." 

In Greece, the objects of the Australian system are 
attained by provisions materially different in form, but so 
similar in effect that they deserve description. 2 

Nominations must be in writing signed by twelve elec- 
tors (a much larger number, generally one twentieth of 
the electorate, but varying with the number of members 
to be elected, were formerly required), and delivered to 
the officer of elections at least twenty-five days previous 
to the election. A deposit of two hundred drachmas 
(about $40) is also required from each candidate. The 
voting is by means of balls. In the polling-place are 
arranged in a row ballot-boxes equal in number to the 
number of candidates, and on each is the name of a 
candidate, in plain letters. The right-hand half of the 
box is white with the word " Yes " upon the front : the 
left-hand half is black, with the word "No" upon it. 
Within are two bags, one placed to the right and the 
other to the left, with a partition between the two. A 
funnel, about ten inches long and five inches in diameter, 
projects at a slight upward angle from the front of the 

1 Pari. Papers, 1868-9, vol. viii., p. 402. 

2 See Charbonnier, p. 366; Pari. Papers, ubi supra, Test, of Arthur 
Arnold, p. 416. 



OTHER COUNTRIES. 151 

box. After the voter has given his name and proved his 
right to vote he approaches the line of boxes. An 
election officer attends him from box to box, at each one 
giving him a small metal ball. The voter holds this up 
between the thumb and forefinger, to show that he has 
only a single ball, and thrusting his arm in the funnel 
drops his ball to the right or left according as he votes 
for or against the candidate, the movement of his hand 
of course being completely invisible. This he does at 
each box. At the close of the election the votes cast 
against each candidate are subtracted from the votes cast 
for him, and his total number is thus ascertained. 

A little reflection will show that this system is by no 
means an inefficient one, and is capable of attaining very 
good results. But it is of course not adapted to a numer- 
ous electorate nor to communities whose traditions have 
not accustomed them to similar methods. 1 

1 The Grecian system would seem to be a development of the old 
method of reckoning by tallies. In Hungary, until not many years 
ago, the electors voted with long, slender sticks, colored to represent 
the different candidates. 



APPENDIX. 



i. 

The main points in which the New York bill of 1889, as 
reported by the committee, differs from the act of 1888, are as 
follows : — 

In section 2, the privilege of making nominations is extended 
to " primary meetings ; " and the political party which may 
nominate by convention or caucus need have obtained only 
one per cent of the entire vote cast. 

In section 5, the maximum number of signatures necessary 
for a nomination to a state office is reduced to five hundred, 
and for a nomination in a lesser district to fifty. Each signer 
is also required to append his residence, occupation, and place 
of business, and to make oath to his signature and statements. 

In section 8, the earliest day for filing nominations is 
changed from sixty to forty and thirty days, respectively, 
before election. 

In section 13, provision for filling vacancies is made, as 
follows : — 

" Section 13. Should any person so nominated die before 
election day, or decline the nomination as in this act provided, 
or should any certificate of nomination be insufficient or inope- 
rative, the vacancy or vacancies thus occasioned may be filled in 
the manner required for original nominations. If the original 
nomination was made by a party convention which had dele- 
gated to a committee the power to fill vacancies, such commit- 
tee may upon the occurring of such vacancies proceed to fill 
the same. The Chairman and Secretary of such committee 
shall thereupon make and file with the proper officer a certifi- 
cate setting forth the cause of the vacancy, the name of the 
person nominated, the office for which he was nominated, the 



154 APPENDIX. 

name of the person for whom the new nominee is to be substi 
tutedj the fact that the committee was authorized to fill vacan- 
cies, and such further information as is required to be given in 
an original certificate of nomination. The certificate so made 
shall be executed, acknowledged, and sworn to in the manner 
prescribed for the original certificate of nomination, and shall 
upon being filed at least eight days before election have the 
same force and effect as an original certificate of nomination. 
When such certificate shall be filed with the Secretary of State 
he shall in certifying the nominations to the various county 
clerks insert the name of the person who has thus been nomi- 
nated to fill a vacancy in place of that of the original nomi- 
nee. And in the event that he has already sent forward 
his certificate he shall forthwith certify to the clerks of the 
proper counties the name and description of the person so 
nominated to fill a vacancy, the office he is nominated for, the 
party or political principle he represents, and the name of the 
person for whom such nominee is substituted." 

In section 15, the following provision is inserted : "Nothing 
in this act contained shall prevent any voter from writing or 
pasting upon his ballot the name of any person for whom he 
desires to vote for any office, and such vote shall be counted the 
same as if printed upon the ballot and marked by the voter, 
and any voter may take with him into the polling-place any 
printed or written memorandum or paper to assist him in 
marking or preparing his ballot, except as hereinafter other- 
wise provided." 

In section 18, the number of ballots to be printed is changed 
to two hundred for every fifty electors. 

In section 22, compartments are to be provided to the num- 
ber of not less than one for every fifty electors. The clause 
" except by authority of the inspectors of elections " is struck 
out. 

In section 24, " thus," in line 6, is changed to " for exam- 
ple." The following provision is inserted for the benefit of 
illiterates : " In marking such a ballot any elector shall be at 
liberty to use or copy any unofficial sample ballot which he may 
choose to mark or to have had marked in advance of entering 
the polling-place or booth, to assist him in marking the official 
ballot, but no elector shall be at liberty to use or bring into the 
polling-place any unofficial sample ballot printed upon paper 



APPENDIX. 155 

of the color and quality now required to be used for the print- 
ing of ballots under the general election laws of this State." 
At the end of the section is added : " whose names shall not 
have been erased." 

In section 25, the maximum time is changed to ten minutes, 
" provided the other booths or compartments are occupied." 

Section 26 reads as follows (apparently for the purpose of 
avoiding Governor Hill's objection that the power to determine 
whether a ballot had been intentionally spoiled should not be 
left to the ballot clerk) : — 

" Section 26. Any voter, who shall by accident or mistake 
spoil his ballot may, on returning said spoiled ballot, receive 
another in place thereof." 

Section 27 obviates another of Governor Hill's objections by 
omitting the clause compelling illiterates to declare their votes 
to one of the officers, and by allowing persons physically dis- 
abled to take a friend into the compartment to mark for them. 
Illiterates are supposed to take advantage of section 24, 
ante, p. 154. 

In section 30, the words "names or initials" are altered to 
"signature or autograph initials." 

In section 34, the word " voter " is throughout very properly 
changed to "elector." 



0. 









V 



